Dysfunctional and Troublesome
by KyraX
Summary: Shikamaru's genins are ridiculously dysfunctional and troublesome! Who knows how they managed to remain as a team? Or how they could solve loose ends forgotten in his past. And how each member grew onto him. A story of love, discoveries, and friendships. ShikaTema
1. Graduation

_Hi! So I have a new story and it's in a different fandom! But unfortunately, as I'm posting this one, I'm going to have to put my other fic on hiatus because life stinks sometimes. Anyways, I like to create balanced__OCs and these new genin generation fics are so much fun to read that I decided to make my own take on these fics. I hope you enjoy them!_

_Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own my OCs only.  
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><p><strong>Chapter One: Graduation<strong>

Today was a decent day.

A day filled with floating clouds and occasional rays of sunshine. Most people were probably asleep. Patrol ninjas kept their stance at the gates, awake from some harsh time of the breezy night till now. At this time, mothers awoke their children and beckoned them to prepare for school. Breakfast was made. Rooms were tidied. And backpacks were stuffed full of scrolls and Academy-appropriate weapons. Shopkeepers rose early and pulled up the metal cover, revealing stocks of hats, tea, ninja gear, and of course, ramen. Delicious fumes of soup and noodles often brought the early Academy students running up to Ichiraku's, ready to indulge a snack before classes start.

But, in such peculiarity, this morning was slow business. Academy students breezed by the open shop as if it vanished overnight. But Teuchi and Ayame were not fazed by this sudden decrease in customers. No. They continued on making the noodles and the broth. It was that time of year, the final exam to finally graduate from the Academy. Already, students had scrolls pulled out and were studying intensely. Others picked a creative route to the Academy, as if brushing up any physical exercises. And then, there was that select few who just know they are going to pass and spent this time enjoying a leisure walk.

One of those select few would be Shun Tetsuya. A twelve year old boy with sleek dark hair and one strand that somehow seems to extend past his bangs and to his brown eyes. He wore plain gray, somewhat over sized, hooded sweatshirt with short sleeves that seemed to have been ripped off and simple black shorts. One noticeable thing about his plain outfit was a series of black bands and bandages that ran down his right arm and a small wrapping of bandages on his upper left arm.

Shun shoved both his hands into the front pockets of his sweatshirt and he could have discreetly stalked into the building, if not for a bumbling idiot suddenly appearing right next to him.

This idiot had long white hair with slight tints of aqua and it was tied up into a pony tail. His eyes were a striking deep blue and his complexion was smooth and pale like the surface of water. He also wore shorts, but they were white, and on the top, he wore a dark shortened raincoat that trailed past his thighs in the back. A real noticeable aspect of his wardrobe would be a trailing teal scarf that ended just above the ground in the front.

"Hello Dead Last! Ready for the exam?" His striking blue eyes gleamed in all enthusiasm as he struck his friend again on the back.

"Oh I'm going to do fine. I don't know about you, Gate-Jumper." Shun smirked back.

"But I know you're going to pass. You're basically the star of the show!" The other boy frowned. "Me on the other hand…not so much…"

Shun scoffed, "You just hope Iruka-sensei calls on you last. It's your fault you decided to be lazy and not study. But you're a fast learner so you'll be fine, Gate Jumper."

"Hey! I'm not Gate Jumper anymore! I'm a dragon! You know, the type that flies! That's why my name is Ryuu!" The blue eyed boy confidentially announced, only for Shun to nonchalantly walk past him.

"Come on, Ryuu Mizuno, we'll be late for exams."

The two boys walked along the bustling hallway, witnessing children that were still studying and others that were causing chaos. They found their classroom, rounded to the back corner, took their seats, and proceeded to waste time until their teacher came in. It was the same for every class. This exam day was no different.

"Okay Shun! Would you rather take on a pack of genin or one jounin?" Ryuu asked to the very bored Shun.

"Jounin", Shun immediately answered, "You know I would rather test my strength than having a simple workout. The answer is quite clear. In fact, it'll be like asking you if you thought her", he pointed down at a lone chestnut haired girl sitting at the desk below them, "Or her." He pointed across the other room where a dark haired girl was chatting with her friends.

"Kinako or Sanae? Of course Sanae!" He nodded at the long haired girl with friends, who didn't seem to notice his gaze. "She's almost a carbon copy of you. Perfect test scores. Really good at genjutsu. And she thinks I look cool in my snazzy coat!" He beamed, flashing it for all to see before leaning in closer to Shun.

"You look stupid in that coat."

"Oh shut up! Dead Last!"

"Gate Jumper."

"You two settle down back there!" An annoyed bark sent both boys sitting back orderly into their seats. That would be their instructor. Iruka Umino. He was always a nice, helpful, and polite teacher. Except, Ryuu always thought otherwise. Every time he spoke with Iruka, he always felt this wrong sensation sent back to him from the teacher. Maybe it was from skipping class a bit too many times? Who knows? But Iruka always seemed to send a weird vibe whenever Ryuu got together with Shun. "Is everybody settled down? Good. I hope you're all ready for the final exam. I am going to call you up one-by-one to perform the exam in a separate room. The rest of you guys hang around here and brush up on any last minute studying." Iruka pulled out a clipboard. "First up is Sanae Amanashi."

"Yes Iruka-sensei!" A slender girl with long dark hair stood up and followed after Iruka.

Ryuu simply sighed, gazing fondly at his crush. "There goes Sanae. She's definitely going to pass. I hope she's in my team."

Shun scoffed at his friend, "I find your infatuation pointless. Shouldn't you be doing some last minute training?"

"Eh I'm a fast learner. I'll catch up to anything they throw at me!" Ryuu replied with great confidence. "Just wondering, who do you want in your genin team?"

"Strong people." Yet another straightforward answer from Shun.

"Hey I'm strong!"

"You're passable."

Ryuu equally smirked back. "Hey. Be careful of your words. I'm the only friend you got at this academy. Well…not counting your fan club." He gestured over to a pack of girl nearby.

"Kinako Keiganu." The lonely chestnut haired girl stood up before them and she too walked out of the classroom.

Ryuu scoffed, watching the other girl walk away. "Well, I clearly know who I _don't _want in my team."

"Kinako? What's so wrong about her?" Shun questioned. He merely knew the girl as that extremely quiet individual that sat in front of his seat.

"Well, she's really weird first of all. I swear her eyes are permanently hosed down or something. Have you ever noticed how long she can stare at people?" Ryuu explained. "One time, as I was walking home from training, I saw her just sitting outside of a teahouse. The whole time I was passing by, all she did was stare me down with those wide eyes. It's like she's trying to visually rape me!"

"That's taking it a bit too far." Shun remarked, sweat drops falling from his head.

"It's true!"

"Ryuu Mizuno!"

Ryuu's blue eyes widened in both shock and fear and he jumped up from his seat. "What! My turn already? But I didn't study! I didn't practice!"

"Good luck." Shun half-heartedly remarked, playfully pushing his freaking out friend towards the door.

'This is bad! This is bad! I didn't practice! Damn it! Why'd I have to procrastinate? Why?' Ryuu nervously rambled in his head as he took his trembling steps towards the exam room. But once he pulled open those doors, he was met with that pair of sea-green eyes, those eyes that he feared for so long. "Kinako!" He exclaimed, falling back a little.

That weird girl kept on staring at him for a few more seconds before walking away. "You'll do fine."

"What?" Flabbergasted at her behavior, Ryuu decided to brush it off and march into his exam with confidence. That is if he had that confidence right now. Instead, he stood very shocked outside, gulping away saliva, fingers trembling to pull open that door once more. 'You can do this! You can do this!' He repeated again and again and finally, pulled those doors open.

"Ryuu Mizuno. Took you long enough." Iruka said with slight suspicion.

"Haha. Um…bathroom break."

Iruka sighed and flipped a page of his clipboard. "Anyways, here's your exam. You see that chair over in the back. Substitute yourself before I hit you with my kunai knife. Ready…"

"Wait! Wait! Let me just stretch!"

"Go!"

In a panic hurry, Ryuu's fingers flew together in a massive array of complicated hand signs that he did just out of instinct. Sure, he's done the Substitution Justu many times before. Especially if he needed to evade from a certain pissed off companion. But, officially in front of a teacher, he can kiss his ninja career goodbye! Right now, all he had to do was hope for the best and see if this simple technique worked. The kunai knife flew right towards his head. Ryuu turned heels and dove under a desk, letting the technique work itself out.

There it was. A chair with a kunai knife imbedded in.

A huge sigh of relief washed over the tired Academy student. He gingerly crawled out of his hiding spot and brushed away dust on his shorts.

"Wait. Why is the chair still in the back?"

"What? But I swore!" Panicked, Ryuu flipped around. Sure enough, his target was still in the back of the room, clearly unused. But if that wasn't the chair used, then what was?

"Ow!" A sudden thud sounded from the teacher's desk. Iruka disappeared!

"Iruka-sensei!" Ryuu ran up to the desk. Peering over, he saw his teacher sitting very awkwardly on the floor. It seems like he took Iruka's chair instead of the other one…oops. Ryuu shrank back. "Does this mean I fail?"

"Hmm… You performed the justu correctly, but you took the wrong chair and almost broke my tailbone." Iruka rubbed his back standing up.

Yep. He failed. Totally.

"But I didn't notice you took the wrong chair until I fell to the ground. To be able to take something from underneath my nose, I guess I can pass you."

"Really? Really!" Ryuu leapt up from the ground in full cheers before running up to get his headband. Finally, a headband of silver plating and blue cloth! It symbolized his official graduation, when he was literally one of the classroom failures. But he passed and that's all that matters!

"Be careful next time and try to follow directions!" Iruka attempted to reach the happy boy, but it was fruitless. "Seriously, nothing can get past that boy." But the teacher chuckled instead his usual sigh of displeasure. "He's so much like _him_. He'll be a fine ninja."

_oOoOo_

"Hey Shun! Let's go out to eat in celebration of both our graduations!" Ryuu slung his arm around the usually bored boy of dark hair.

"It was a Substitution Justu. That was the easiest test in the history of tests." Shun scoffed, removing himself from the hyper boy.

"But still! I can't believe I passed!"

"Oh shut up! Your enthusiasm is getting annoying."

"Come on Shun! Lighten up!"

"Get lost!"

'Troublesome little kids…' A familiar ninja stopped in his steps to let the little ones run by him. 'Oh well, they must all be very excited.' He also noted at a little girl with chestnut hair carrying bakery goods. After letting the students pass him, he strolled down to a nearby flower shop.

"Shikamaru! How are you?" A kunoichi of trailing blonde hair exclaimed in surprise.

"Troublesome. You?"

"It's been so great! Sales have doubled because so many students passed their exam." Ino gleamed so bright that Shikamaru could imagine gold coins glimmering in her eyes.

Shikamaru sighed, "How troublesome. That means more students to tackle for us jounins."

"Oh I'm sure you'll have fun!" Ino playfully patted his sore back. "Who knows? You might get competent students this year. I hope you get my favorite, Kina-chan!"

"Kina-chan?"

"Yeah, she's the daughter of a baker who sells the best melon bread. Her family also likes buying my flowers for decorations. She and I are our best customers."

'Of course, always thinking with her wallet' Shikamaru winced, lucky enough to not be sucked dry off his paycheck. Ever since Ino started working at her shop when she was a little kid, she was always trying to find ways to make more dough than necessary. Who knows what goes on in a woman's head?

"Speaking of flowers, Chunin Exams are coming up soon. Don't you want to buy something a little something special for Suna's liaison?" Ino winked.

Shikamaru scowled, "Troublesome woman."

A small giggle erupted from his former teammate. "I'm going to be keeling over if your students ever found out."

"I'll know who they asked for it."

"Not if you have my Kina-chan." Ino smirked. "She'd sense it a mile away."

"Then I'll try not to get whoever this Kina-chan is in my team. There's only one-ninth chance." Shikamaru retorted back before picking himself up to leave. "See you later. It's time for me to see my new little genin team."

"Good luck Shikamaru." Ino called back out. "I hope they pass this year!" After seeing her former teammate finally disappear, she simply sat by the counter like her usual, leisurely day offs. She wondered what kind of genin team Shikamaru would get. Are they battle oriented? Are they smart? Are they cute? Who knows? If only Chouji were back early would she be able to finally get some good juice. This year, though, she wanted this team to actually pass Shikamaru's ridiculously hard test. Maybe because there was that one-ninth chance of Kina-chan ending up in Shikamaru's team. Maybe because she wanted Shikamaru to get off his lazy ass and do something.

Or to finally attend the Chunin Exams…

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><p><em>Oooh! Did something happen at the last Chunin Exams? Please review!<em>


	2. New Teammates!

**Chapter Two: New Teammates!**

"Team Five: Shun Tetsuya, Ryuu Mizuno..."

Already, cheering was heard from the back of the room as one of the popular duo playfully nudged his friend. But the other friend had an expression that was a cross between horror and interest.

"And Kinako Keiganu."

Now, the facial expressions switched with Ryuu looking like it was the end of the world and Shun smirking at his friend's despair. On the other hand, Kinako simply did not take notice on this fiasco behind her and kept fidgeting around with some string between her fingers.

"Jerks..." She silently muttered.

"Team Six..."

_OoOoO_

The albino kid groaned in complete disbelief and torture as he collapsed back in an empty classroom. He seemed to be the only one acting so dramatically tortured because Shun was spacing out next to him and Kinako was still playing with the string in her hands. But the trio was the only people in the classroom. Every other student met up with their jounin and started actual training! And Sanae! Sanae! She got one of the best jounins out there! Chouji Akimichi! That's who! He's like the eternal powerhouse of Konoha.

"This sucks so much!" Ryuu declared once again for the umpteenth time. "Everyone else got into their genin teams! What about us? Where's our sensei?"

"Will you calm down?" Shun groaned back with his head already aching in annoyance. Why was he ever friends with Ryuu in the first place?

"But this is so not fair! Everyone is not here. Our sensei is not here. Sanae is not in my team. And I'm stuck with you and that weird-Oomph!"

"Shut up!" Shun calmly replied as he cleanly backhanded Ryuu in the head. "Don't mind him. He's just being an idiot." He spoke to the lonely girl.

She nodded back to him with her short chestnut pigtails bouncing against her shoulders and her wide emerald eyes softened with her gaze. She had a smooth and messy arrangement of bangs and her pigtails were also braided a little before being fastened with an olive tie. She wore her headband as a choker on her neck and an asymmetrical white top with one long sleeve on one side and none on the other. Fastened at her waist and on her white top was a black belt with various pockets. That was probably for storing ninja gear since she had no pockets sown into her black tights that reached down to her ankles. The well-dressed but lonely girl quickly went back to fidgeting around with her string.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Shun inquired.

"No, I talk. I just don't have much to say right now. Especially since your friend down there doesn't enjoy my company much." She smartly replied back.

"Ignore him. Water clogged up his brain since day one." Shun replied with another stomp on Ryuu.

"Gah! Traitor..."

"We're going to be teammates for a long time. I might as well introduce myself. My name is Shun Tetsuya. I think my brothers have stopped by your bakery once before." He held out his hand for her to shake.

"I've seen them before. They're nice people. I hope you're just as friendly as them."

Shun felt an uneasy feeling rise up his throat after that remark, but he masterfully pushed it back down. In a clenched smile, he pointed down towards the body under him. "This is Ryuu Mizuno. You probably know him as that annoying kid that sits behind you."

"Hey!"

She chuckled a little after that outburst, "I don't know. He was never there to begin with." She stopped her string playing, placed it in the bag attached to her back waist, and leaned out to glimpse down at Ryuu. "So do you like Konoha? How is it compared to Land of Water?"

Ryuu opened his mouth, almost gasping something out, but he quickly shut his mouth and turned away. "It is fine I guess…"

"That's good to know." Kinako leaned back comfortably in her seat. "My name is Kinako Keiganu. You may know me as the baker's daughter from around the block or you…" She nodded at Ryuu, who immediately turned away. "…as that weird girl. But either way, I look forward to working with the both of you."

"As do I." A grumble rang out, causing all three kids to turn around. "It's the first day and you guys are already so troublesome. Do you know how much it cost me to even walk over here?"

Their sensei dragged his footsteps into the room, one hand rubbing the side of his head and the other shoved into his pocket. To the people that don't study, Ryuu, thought their team was doomed from the very first glance. Others, Kinako and Shun, knew better and now stared their new sensei down with suspicion and caution. Kinako more so, with her emerald eyes grew wider with each second of staring.

"I believe you all already introduced yourself to each other so there's really no need for a formal introduction. But by the handbook, I have to make you say a bunch of stuff about yourself." This sensei lazily spoke, eyeing at Kinako. "Why don't you start?"

"What do I have to say?" Kinako suddenly blinked.

"Your name, hobbies, dreams, special talents, likes and dislikes, stuff like that."

"My name is Kinako Keiganu. I like sewing and weaving. I want to be a strong kunoichi and develop my own abilities!"

"So you are saying you don't have much of a trademark up your sleeve."

Kinako blushed at the comment and quickly turned away.

The sensei merely shrugged. "Fair enough. I didn't expect much from recent Acedemy graduates. What about you? Boy with the white hair."

"The name's Ryuu Mizuno! I like eating, swimming, sleeping, training…"

"Just get to the point!" Shun shoved his buddy, making Ryuu comically fall over right behind Kinako.

Ryuu laughed and sprang back up. "My goal in life is to be the strongest ninja ever! In both Konoha and Kiri! And then, I want to be the best ninja in the world!"

"You dream big. Let's see how far that takes you." The tired sensei dryly remarked before turning to his final student.

"Shun Tetsuya. I just want to be strong. I want to be strong enough to surpass them someday." Shun glowered at the floor as his tongue grew bitter from the mention of his two brothers. "I won't live in their shadows."

"Oh where have I heard that before?"

'Ouch! Burn…' Ryuu flinched for his seemingly unfazed friend.

"Well, you three do remind me of these three pretty good shinobi."

"Really?" Ryuu and Kinako exclaimed simultaneously.

"Yeah. Ryuu reminds me of this stupid, bumbling idiot. Kinako reminds me of this kunoichi who couldn't do anything to save her life. And Shun reminds me of a former Konoha traitor." The sensei casually replied while ignoring the looks of horror from his students. "Anyways, let's get to my introduction. My name is Shikamaru Nara. I like sleeping and gazing at clouds. I dislike troublesome people and moving. I think that's good enough. I'm going to be your supposed sensei."

'Supposed…' Kinako frowned at his statement. "What's the catch?"

"Kinako?" Ryuu stared back at her.

Shikamaru merely shrugged off her suspicions. "I expected for you to be the sharp one anyways. Come along children."

And with that, they were beckoned to leave with him.

_OoOoO_

"Out of the twenty-seven graduates from the Academy, only one-third are allowed to be given the rank genin. That means only nine kids are going to achieve that rank and you only have one ninth of a chance of being a genin. In fact, your chances may dwindle if more than nine students pass this test." Shikamaru began to explain as he comfortably lied down on the grass to stare at the passing clouds.

"Hold on Shikamaru-sensei! What determines a pass in this test?" Shun shouted out.

Their sensei merely smirked back. "That's for me to decide. I'm here to see if you got what it takes to be a fully-fledged shinobi."

Annoyed, Ryuu quickly stood up and yelled back, "Fine! I can take another test! Throw as many as you want at me! But it better not be a boring written test!"

"I will assure you that it is not. Becoming a shinobi does not solely rely on books." Shikamaru shot a glance at the female in his team who gulped and quickly looked away. "I promise you that this test is _completely_ physical."

"Then get off your back, Shikamaru-sensei." Shun quickly appeared in front of Shikamaru, blocking his view from the clouds.

The tired jounin grumbled, "Troublesome, little brats." He finally managed to sit up and while rubbing the back of his neck, he pulled out a single silver bell out of his back pocket. "You see this little bell? Prior to meeting you guys, I hid two of these in the forest behind me. Go find them. The ones that can get their hands on a bell can become genin." He suddenly stopped in his sentence and turned his gaze to the left. "You got till sunset to find them. That's three hours."

"Why are there only two bells?" Shun hammered at him again.

"Two bells. Two genin. That simple. One of you is definitely going to fail." Shikamaru yawned and slouched back down in his comfortable position. "If I were you, I would get a move on for those bells."

Just like that he could hear sudden steps jump up from the grass land and into the forest. A stray wind picked up the free blades of grass and carried them over his drooping eyes. Of course, he was not supposed to be sleeping right now, especially when testing out the potential genins. But that alone is too much work! So, being the insufferable genius he is, he simply reinvented the entire standardized bell test into something uniquely his own. Instead of fighting the jounin for the bells, they had to find the bells themselves. Here's the catch: it requires him to do absolutely _nothing_!

Just as he was going to close his eyes, a soft shadow fell onto his head. Not even bothering to use his shadow techniques, he merely called out her name, "Kinako Keiganu. What are you still doing here?"

She stepped to approach closer.

"If you don't start searching, I'm going to fail you."

That was enough to make the lonely girl halt. She retraced her previous steps away from her sensei and turned around, planning to go into the forest like the rest of her teammates. But before she finally left him… "Shikamaru-sensei!" She loudly called back to him. "She likes dango the best."

'What did that mean?' Shikamaru thought for only a second, but merely shrugged it off. Sure, he had this tingling feeling that little Kinako figured something out to use against him. But she was weak enough to efficiently shut up if there was ever a need to. Thus, the jounin took this time to have some peace and quiet to him.

On the other hand, Kinako concentrated on those boys that were her supposed teammates. She leaped at least twenty meters through a bunch of branches before spotting the duo below her. Momentarily brushing away her light brown bangs, she was about to jump down but her jade eyes quickly caught Ryuu's mouth beginning to move.

"Only two needs to graduate, so I say you and I team up and find those two bells ourselves and let Kinako fail." Ryuu's loud proclamation found its way deep into her bleeding heart.

"Ryuu. That's so insensitive. Even for you! What's gotten into you?" Shun's honest reply rang back out to her.

Ryuu's blue eyes widened in horror as if he thought Shun was the crazy one. "She's so weird! That's why. She creeps the hell out of me."

"I honestly don't see anything creepy about her. She's just different."

"Then how did she find out that I'm originally from the Land of Water? You're the only person I've ever told that to!"

"Because it was written all over your face..." Their feet suddenly leapt up from the ground in the presence of the mentioned girl. She cleanly landed behind Ryuu, who was now hesitating to turn back towards her. But even if he did, her gaze did not hold anger. Her green eyes trembled with sorrow and disappointment. "Ryuu Mizuno, do you hate me that much?"

Shun felt his whole body jump in a frantic craze once the poor girl stammered that out. "No! What he meant was-"

"Are you afraid that I'm that weird?"

Ryuu gritted his teeth and glared back. "Of course! I think you're one of the weirdest girls ever!"

Poor Kinako trembled at his statement, tears now running down her cheeks.

"Did you know how disappointed I was that you were in my team? I felt like I was going to throw up!" Ryuu continued shouting insults at her, unaware of their effects. "That's why I'm teaming up with Shun and finding those bells so-". Suddenly the sides of his cheek went numb as a fist connected with it.

"Shun!" Kinako exclaimed in surprise.

The dark haired boy scoffed at his supposed best friend as he drew his reddened hand back. "I'd expected better from you, Ryuu." He softly told his friend lying before him. "Ryuu Mizuno, you are at least someone I can tolerate on a normal basis. But, even for you, I don't especially tolerate people who pick on others that have done nothing wrong to them. If you keep this up, then I'll make sure you won't get your hands on a bell!" Shun pointed at Kinako behind him. "Now apologize to her and act like a teammate!"

He was serious.

Even Ryuu was smart enough to recognize this. As much as he didn't want to, he had to. Even he had to weigh his chances and options. He wanted to be a strong shinobi. Even if it meant throwing away his pride, so be it. The white hair jerk stood up and marched up to a surprised Kinako. He promptly took both of her hands, brought them together, and bowed down just a little.

"Sorry." The kid mumbled out, barely audible enough for Shun to hear that the dark haired boy was ready to beat him up for being so rude.

Good thing Kinako had good ears and she managed to wear out a smile. "I accept your apology." She sniffed and shook her head to rid the tears.

Ryuu merely scoffed and quickly let go of her. "Even with this apology, it's still hope less for us to be a team. Only two of us can become genins. That means one of us has to step down."

"Actually…" Kinako finally spoke up, grabbing her boys' attentions. "Ryuu. Shun. There is a way for all of us to become a genin team. That's why I had to find you."

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><p><em>Oooh! Drama on the very first day! Now you know why this team is so hectic and dysfunctional! How are they going to get the bell? Review for the next chapter!<em>


	3. Beating the Bell Test

**Chapter Three: Beating the Bell Test**

"All three of us? Impossible! There are only two bells, remember?" Ryuu exclaimed. Unless they split the two bells into thirds and gave two pieces to each person, there's no way three people can become genins from two bells alone!

Shun lightly nudged him, sensing that rude ignorance coming out from him. "Hey! If she can figure out your homeland without even asking, she can figure out a situation for our problem." Shun paused in berating Ryuu and focused back onto Kinako. "So...how can we all become genin from two bells?"

"Well it's simple. There are actually three bells." She held up three fingers. "Shikamaru-sensei said he hid two in the forest, but he showed us what the bells look like with an extra bell."

Ryuu cocked his head to the side. "I don't get where you're going..."

"That means that bell was also in play for this test all along." Shun muttered out.

Kinako nodded, "That's right. That was my initial plan to start off with. I thought I'd let you two find the bells in the forest and I'd face off against our sensei. Unfortunately, Shikamaru-sensei caught me and threatened to fail me if I didn't start looking. That's why I was looking for you guys."

Ryuu smirked and punched his own hand in enthusiasm. "Then what are we waiting for! Let's go find those bells! How much time do we have left?"

"Two hours." Shun replied, gazing up at the sky. "I got a plan. Let's search for the hidden bells and wait on Shikamaru-sensei's bell till the last minute. I hear that shinobi has the energy levels of an old man. He'll be sleeping by the end of this test."

"But Dead Last", Ryuu interjected, "Here's the question: Do you want to actually search for it or do you want to find it? If it's the former, then I'll just kick back and relax here."

"Of course find it!" Shun rolled his eyes. "We can use the remaining time to come up with a strategy."

Kinako approached her teammate with suspicion in her eyes. "I know you got some hidden technique that lets you find stuff quickly and at some sort of distance. But you don't have Byakugan since you're not a Hyuuga. I don't see you carrying any tracking agents. I really want to see the third Tetsuya brother's capabilities."

"Well. Prepare to be..." Ryuu paused. "…slightly intrigued."

"Shut up or I'll kill you." Shun shot him a death glare.

"Hey! No harm done! That's just in case your second brother tried to woo her with your clan tricks!" Ryuu stammered back out.

"Shut up. I mean it!" Shun took a deep breath and concentrated his chakra towards his mind and emitted the rest into their surroundings. His hands flew into a long series of hand signs, each being very precise, almost mechanical. He finally stopped with his own original hand sign. "Hidden Technique: Space Tracker Jutsu!" After yelling out his technique, Shun quickly closed his eyes and ignored the stares of his teammates.

"A tracking Jutsu?" A confused Kinako questioned. "I thought the Tetsuya clan dealt with only space-time ninjutsu?"

"Stupid girl! That's probably what his brothers showed you. But that's not everything. Their ability goes far beyond that." Ryuu coolly informed her. "What Shun is doing right now is he's looking at the spatial history of this area. It can be something minimal like a bug traveling across the field or something major like a battle from hundreds of years ago. Whatever happened here previously or recently, Shun can see it."

"Stupid girl?" Kinako questioned back. "I thought we already went over this?"

Ryuu scoffed, "Just because I agree that you are my teammate doesn't mean I'm happy about it."

"Jerk." Kinako sneered, folding her arms, and turning away from this obnoxious idiot.

Shun suddenly released his Jutsu. "Come on. Let's go deeper into the forest. "

"Why?"

"Of course, I forgot, everyone in the Tetsuya clan knows this technique. How skilled you really are at using it shows in the distance of your range. An average range is about seven meters, but experts can go far beyond that. And Shun's range here is about..." Ryuu paused for a minute to calculate. "...three meters."

"Shut up! You Gate Jumper!" Shun angrily growled back before stomping into the woods.

"That's still so amazing! I wish I could do something like that!" Kinako exclaimed, enthusiastically clapping her hands.

"Can't you read minds?" Ryuu inquired.

Kinako shook her chestnut head. "No. I'm not a mind reader."

"Wait! Then how did you-"

"Hey guys! I found them! Both of them!" Shun's voice suddenly rang in.

"Figures." Ryuu muttered as he ran into the forest.

"Shikamaru-sensei is so lazy." Kinako also remarked.

Both kids ran into the forest and met up with their friend. All three of them stood under a tall oak tree where right above them hung two dangling bells. It was so easy, like finding apples in an apple tree.

"So... We need to just grab it and go?" Ryuu questioned. "What if it's a trap?"

Shun did not try to question any further. The dark haired boy suddenly flew up, grabbed the two bells, and landed right back onto the ground. Confidently, he presented the two bells, no strings attached at all.

"Okay...so it's not a trick." Ryuu sheepishly replied.

Shun only rolled his eyes at his stupid friend. "Now that this is taken care and over with, what are we going to do about the third bell?"

"I say we sneak up on him and steal it while he's sleeping!" Ryuu confidently announced.

Silence.

"Don't underestimate him. He's a jounin for a reason." Kinako reminded him. "And you call me 'stupid'." She rolled her eyes.

"What? Did your super special (not) mind-reading powers tell you that?" Ryuu snapped back, ignoring the hisses coming from Shun to be more courteous.

"No. Actually that was pure logic." Kinako deadpanned back.

There she goes again, acting like the mind reader that she supposedly isn't. Sure he did not hate her like Ryuu, but she was still a mystery. He may not know Kinako that well, but he knew she had some sort of ability to read minds…or, at least, some technique to dig up enough background information about people.

Wait a second!

Just like that, the wheels started to turn in his head. "Kinako! What do you know about Shikamaru-sensei?" Shun suddenly asked, effectively confusing the poor girl.

"Shikamaru-sensei? Well he's lazy. He likes sleeping."

"No, no, no. I mean something secretive. Something he wouldn't want us to know!"

"What are you getting at, Dead Last?" Ryuu also appeared confused.

"Here guys. Come in closer. I got a plan."

_OoOoO_

It's been two and a half hours. He had been sitting here, watching the clouds go by, for two and a half hours. He was not surprised. Individuals usually figure out the existence of the third bell within the last hour. This time was just particularly slower. Or they were scheming something…together. Maybe he'll actually have to work to defend his single bell.

How troublesome.

But looking at these kids, he figured it won't be _that_ hard. Just by looking at their interactions with each other, they were pretty disconnected. He'd be surprised if they managed to go at him in a uniform group. Even so, individually, each was a mess. Ryuu, for example, seemed like an able shinobi who could hold his own against high level ninja. He was also a Land of Water immigrant so he probably had a few tricks back there. But, alas, stupidity and ignorance overtook all those decent qualities. Shun, on the other hand, came from a prestigious clan with a bunch of space-time ninjutsu at his disposal and he was a prodigy to boot. Apparently, he was so smart that he skipped a grade in the Academy! Even Sasuke did not manage that! But, similarly to the aforementioned ninja, loathe towards his brothers also hindered his chances of becoming a finer shinobi. And then, there was Kinako. She was strange. And quiet. And she liked string. That was all he was briefed about at the meeting. She held average grades, average test scores, average spar matches, and basically average everything. She only knew basic skills that the Academy taught and nothing more. Her family line was also nothing more than a kunoichi marrying a local baker and then divorcing after a couple years of marriage. Nothing stood out. (Oh, how he wished he had that kind of life.)

Except for she was Ino's favorite customer; 'Kina-chan' and also, she said a particular statement that caught his attention.

"_She likes dango the best."_

Now what could that mean? He knew it could not be Ino since she praised the melon bread. And this was the first time he met Kinako so how could she have known his other acquaintances? Before he could access this question any further, he sensed his suspect already approaching.

"What is it Kinako? Did you already find a bell?" Shikamaru lazily called, not even mustering enough strength to get up, turn around, and look.

The silent girl walked up a little, but hesitated after getting within speaking distance. But after a quick ushering from her back, she finally approached closer and held out her hands. "Shikamaru-sensei. I know you like to play shougi. This is my favorite game."

He sensed she had probably had something to show him. Although it couldn't be any more interesting than watching clouds, he was up for anything to intrigue him for a quick moment before going back to the clouds. Besides, he wanted to see if she had some personality in her.

"See! It's Cat's Cradle." The young girl held out a piece of white string looped around her fingers. "Watch! I can make a shuriken." Very quickly, she placed her hands together and pulled them apart, while expertly weaving the string around each finger.

Why was she doing this so fast? She may be an expert, but her movements are ridiculously fast for such a simple trick. Shikamaru suddenly smirked. That was too easy. He leisurely made a single hand sign and shouted a release before she could even complete her genjutsu.

"Masking your hand signs with string? You're going to have to do better than that." Shikamaru shouted to her, watching the girl panic and jump back a few feet. "Where are your teammates?"

Kinako gritted her teeth and fished into her back pouch. In one swift move, she pulled out a kunai and chucked it at Shikamaru. More like, she chucked it two feet to the left of Shikamaru.

'It's like she wasn't even aiming for me. Hold on!' He actually took a good look at that kunai and saw marks…summoning marks.

A flash of smoke exploded from that spot, causing even Shikamaru to back up a little to avoid debris hitting him. But right as he placed his arms up, a dark figure popped right out of the explosion and lunged towards his belt where the bells were located.

"I almost got it!" Shun leaped out and reached, wanting to even get a fingertip to touch that bell and yank it right off! But all he ever got was a touch. Shikamaru pulled away!

'That was close!' Shikamaru quickly jumped back to put some distance from the two genin. But he noticed that they were also backing up, like they didn't want to fight. He sighed and shook his head. They could, at least, try to attack him.

Shun turned to Kinako. "We got no choice. We'll have to go with our back-up, back-up plan."

"Alright, but he's going to kill us later." Kinako wearily retreated up to a high tree, somewhere where she could be in hearing distance and still be far from the battlefield.

'What is she doing?' Shikamaru suspiciously glanced up at her.

Kinako slowly took a breath and cupped her hands to her mouth, "When Shikamaru-sensei was seven, he wet the bed!"

"H-Hey! How did you know that?" His face drained of color with every little secret, embarrassing secrets, which flew right out of her mouth. Shikamaru's dignity just fell deeper to the bottom of the sea.

"He scored second-to-last in Academy rankings! He's scared of his mommy! He got drunk at a stag party and almost hooked up with a guy!"

Now this is getting ridiculous…

Right out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Ryuu to finally making his move. Well, he knew that genin was there the whole time, he was just playing dumb. Ryuu yelled some sort of battle cry out of his childish mouth as he charged up. His hands suddenly flew out to start forming hand signs, only three this time.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" Two fingers were placed near his mouth. A strong jet of water sprayed out with such force that it was enough to knock Shikamaru down! But he luckily evaded in time!

Ryuu stopped, cautiously facing his opponent one on one now. "Fine! Let's try this again! Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" Another jet of water shot out, this time aiming for Shikamaru chest instead of his head.

Shikamaru sighed at his place backed up against the tree. Maybe he should at least hold his own for now. This kid just does not give up. And the other kid above him won't shut up with the secrets. And the other kid could lunge at him at any minute. He quickly prepared for a substitution, but her next statement rang clearly enough to change his mind.

"Shikamaru-sensei has a crush on this girl! She has yellow hair! She carries around a huge fan! And she loves my shop's dango!" Kinako paused when she found out her target was right below her, watching her yell out his embarrassing secrets. But, once she glanced down at him, she found another one to share. "Shikamaru-sensei! You haven't con-". Suddenly the girl stopped yelling and her hands suddenly fell at her side. But that was not her moving! She didn't want to stop yelling nor drop her arms at her side. But she had no choice. Something was controlling her! She peered down and saw the culprit. A shadow!

"Just because you're up there, doesn't mean you're safe. Always be aware of your surroundings." Shikamaru coolly remarked. "Shadow Imitation Jutsu is a success."

"You're wide open!" Both of the leftover genins lunged at him. Ryuu was already preparing for a frontal attack with some sort of water based technique and Shun was at his side with kunais and shurikens out. Both ran at such speed that they were literally flying through the air!

"Take this!" Shun chucked a kunai.

"Water Release!"

There was not a single panic for the sensei. Instead, Shikamaru simply stepped forward and released his shadow. Kinako, who was attached to him, also stepped forward, out into the open air, no longer standing on a branch of a tree, now falling thirty feet.

"Ahhh!" Poor Kinako screeched, feeling the air pound in her ears. Any moment now and her spine breaks into many little pieces on the floor.

"Damn it!" Ryuu's hands continued to make signs. "Wind Release: Gentle Whirlwind!"

A whirlwind appeared right below Kinako, catching her before she landed. Surprisingly, this whirlwind did not cut the girl with destructive power. No. It was more coaxing, lightly carrying the once-plummeting girl safely down to the ground.

But unfortunately, the user did not have time to perform such a technique again! He was going to crash! Great! A nice face plant right into the tree!

"Oomph! Ryuu!"

Shun winced as his fellow teammate face planted himself into his stomach before driving them both into that tree. The impact was so great that the tree was tilted a little from its upright position! Unfortunately, the impact took its toll on both of the boys. Shun, probably the most injured, broke a couple of ribs and maybe fractured his spine. Ryuu most likely got some damages to the head, even if he was shielded by Shun's body. On the plus note, Kinako was unharmed.

"Shun! Did you get the bell?"

Shun looked at his previously thrown kunai. There was nothing. "No. Damn it!"

"Are you two alright?" Kinako worriedly asked.

"Obviously not!"

"Three… Two… One… Time's up." Shikamaru nonchalantly said as he approached the defeated team of genin. "The sun has set already."

Ryuu groaned. "Sorry. But we failed. All of us."

Shikamaru smiled softly. "Don't be too down. Actually, I'm quite surprised at your performance."

"Really?" Kinako looked up at him with hopeful eyes. Maybe he'll actually pass them!

"You're the first team that managed to get hurt without me having to even touch you."

Kinako sank back down. Forget it!

"You ran out of time. You still didn't get the third bell. And you did not realize that if all three of you attacked me at the same time, you would have actually gotten a hold of this bell. That was the whole point of this test. It's teamwork." He watched every single student slowly sink into misery with every criticism. "But I'll pass you."

"What!" All three kids shouted, surprise clearly flying through their brown, blue, and green eyes.

"You pass." Shikamaru sighed and yawned. It was getting late. "The whole point of this exercise is to work as a team. We were instructed to let you pass either if all members of the team attacked simultaneously in some organized way or if all members of the team participated in some sort of plan. A majority of genin take the first approach. You guys took the second approach and a very simple one at that. Both Kinako and Ryuu were distractions and Shun was the one trying to take the bell."

"If it was so simple and it failed, then why pass us? I bet many other genin have tried the same thing." Ryuu questioned.

"You three have skills that prior genin don't normally possess." Shikamaru explained. "You, Ryuu, are originally from the Land of Water and you've already shown me some advanced water and wind techniques. Shun has his clan's space-time ninjutsu and he performed a technique that the Fourth Hokage once used. How he got that technique? I don't know. And Kinako…I'm guessing she can read minds."

"I can't read minds." Kinako exasperatedly retorted. "Why does everyone think that?"

"Cause whatever you're doing, you're good at it." Shun piped in. He winced once again as he tried to sit up and push Ryuu off of him at the same time.

"Huh?" Kinako tilted her head to the side like she was utterly and completely confused. "But I don't even know what I was doing."

"What!"

Shun and Ryuu looked at her with eager surprise while Shikamaru merely took a slight interest into this whole situation. The first day of training was going to be troublesome indeed.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! So you were blindly guessing the whole time?" Ryuu accusingly pointed at her. "So there wasn't a ninjutsu technique attached to this at all?"

Kinako nodded, "That's right."

"But it can't be a guess if everything is so accurate." Shun pointed out. "So how do you do it?"

Kinako shook her head, "I don't know."

"I don't get it!" Ryuu dramatically clung to his head. "You're so weird!"

"Shut up." Kinako pouted and turned away.

"Guys…" Shun nervously glanced at both, wanting them to cooperate to not embarrass their team so much.

'Great! Just what I need: A disconnected team and drama!' The unnerving thought swam around Shikamaru's head before he dismissed it. He yawned once again and lazily scratched the back of his head. It was getting too late. He'll run out of time if they kept talking like this on the training grounds. "Anyways, I'll report that you three pass. Go home and rest up. Be prepared for initial training tomorrow morning." With that, in a whirlwind of leaves, their sensei vanished.

"Did he just leave us here all injured?" Ryuu clenched his fist. "Some sensei he is!"

"Shut up Gate Jumper!" Shun immediately punched his friend right in the face.

"Ow! What you do that for?" Ryuu yelled back while nursing his now bleeding nose.

"When will you learn to respect people? He's our sensei!" Shun argued back.

'My teammates are idiots.' Kinako nervously thought, watching this recurring banter go back and forth in front of her. 'But…' She smiled. 'They're _my_ teammates nonetheless.'

_OoOoO_

"Hey Shikamaru!" Ino joyously ran up to her friend. "What's up? How was your team? Did they pass?"

"They passed." Shikamaru nonchalantly replied, even ignoring Ino's cheers of joy and celebration. "Hey Ino." She stopped. "What did you mean by her 'seeing it a mile away'?"

"Oh…so you did get Kina-chan." Ino softly smiled, taking a look at the bakery across from her. "What did she see from you?"

"Everything, enough to even weaponize it. Unsurprisingly, she was the first one to find out about her."

"Hey. Don't be so embarrassed!" Ino laughed, patting ridiculously hard on his back. "To be honest, I was a bit spooked by her at first. She got me down to the brand of shampoo I use! But she was so cute and her bakery goods were so good that I grew attached to her."

"That's why I want to talk to you about Kinako." Shikamaru proposed, grabbing Ino's attention. "The Yamanaka clan specializes in mind techniques. But Kinako already said she does not know any mind techniques. What is your take of this?"

Ino nodded. "That's true. Kinako actually knows zero mind techniques. I even offered to teach her, but she shows no real talent in it. But her predictions are so accurate that it is almost like she's reading your mind. But she's not. It's not even a ninjutsu because I don't sense any chakra changes in her. So honestly, even I don't know what she's doing. It's like she does this almost impulsively."

'Impulse? Now how can she be looking into people's backgrounds on impulse? It would be like she was reading their…' Hey eyes suddenly widened once a genius idea hit in. Of course! Why didn't he see this before? The whole time in that battle, she was doing that! "Thanks for your help Ino." Shikamaru suddenly said and walked out of the flower shop.

"Huh? Right…" Ino was confused. "How was I helping?"

* * *

><p><em>Hey! So this chapter's a bit longer and chapters from here on out are just going to get longer and longer. And the drama and hectic-ness continues as this team heads off for training and missions! Does anybody know what Kinako's "mind reading" actually is? Please review!<em>


	4. Mission Time!

**Chapter Four: Mission Time!**

"Come on guys! Only a couple more feet to go!" A high spirited girl shouted down. Her legs dangled from the branch she sat on and her hands remained planted on the bark. Right beside her was a kunai knife, a tool for marking, which she happily jabbed into the main trunk of her tree. Kinako sat in her place of the high heavens, frowned, and wielded another pair of senbon needles. "You're too slow! Should I hit you with these to make you go faster?"

"Stupid Girl. What a show off!" Ryuu growled under his breath from his place thirty meters down from her. The adrenaline filled boy dashed for his tree trunk, kunai at hand, and firmly planted his foot on the vertical surface. Moving like a cougar, he raced up past his previous ten marks and tried to gain at least another yard before losing it and falling back down. As his blade scratched into the tree's surface, he felt his body double back and he landed on the ground with a sickening thud.

Shun also followed suit as his buffoon of a friend except he landed nimbly on his feet than on his tush. But either way; he wasn't faring well in this training. He was more ten meters off the ground compared to Ryuu's measly eight feet, but even he succumbed to a loss of chakra control and plummeted to the ground.

But Kinako, she excelled…a lot. When it came to chakra control, she was the master. In fact, she was so good, she even carved her own name into the tree as she was running up...with her feet! Because she was doing so well, Shikamaru even exempted her from today's training! So unfair! Speaking of Shikamaru, instead of helping them train and develop their skills together, he put Kinako in charge and went to watch clouds. What a lazy sensei!

Thinking of that moment, Shun bit his lip in disgust and ran for his tree once again, ready to pounce. So did Ryuu. Both planted their feet at the base at the same time and both sprinted for the top. Both concentrated on their target and it was the smirking girl sitting mere hundreds of feet away.

But that girl soon lost her smirk. Her hand flew out from behind and launched a senbon needle flying right in between the boys. Splat! Both fell. Just like she thought.

"You're not concentrating. If you even lose focus for just a second, you'll fall. Can't you try to ignore the leaves and twigs that get in the way?" Kinako said matter-of-factly as she softly landed in between them.

"Ow... Stupid Girl..." Ryuu whined, painfully rubbing his broken butt. "I can totally do this if it was on water."

"Then wouldn't this be easier to you?" Shun pointed out.

"You! Shut up and stay out of this!" Ryuu glared at him and stood on his feet.

Shun shrugged and stood up as well. "Just pointing out the facts, brain dead Gate Jumper."

"Pompous Dead Last!"

"Unwanted Immigrant."

"Traitor!"

"Hey! Stop fighting boys!" Kinako quickly jumped in between them before fists started flying.

Poof! They all stopped.

"Listen to your proxy leader or else, you're a failure of a proper shinobi." A lazy voice drawled and a yawn followed. There, within the smoke, appeared a familiar spiky ponytail and laid-back posture. He yawned once again, "Can't I even leave my team alone for once and not find some sort of fight breaking out? How troublesome."

"It wouldn't have happened if this bastard didn't start calling me names!" Ryuu accusingly pointed his finger at Shun.

"How about you stop antagonizing your own teammates and then we'll talk." Shun coolly retorted back.

"What was that?"

The rest was history. After a few days of training his team, Shikamaru already deduced three scenarios that were most likely to happen. Scenario one: Ryuu insults Kinako and she tries to outwit him, which is very easy, or Shun steps in before she even starts. Scenario two: Shun and Ryuu fight to the death. Scenario three: Scenario two with Kinako thrown into the mix. Luckily, with Kinako around, it halted any chance of physical fighting and the quarrel simply went to verbal abuse. Stupid and troublesome as his boys were, at least they had the chivalry to not hit a girl.

Right now...the situation was slowly progressing into scenario two. How troublesome. Now he actually had to go in and break it up. He yawned and scratched his head unenthusiastically as always.

Shikamaru glanced over at the only sane member of his team. She was watching her teammates fight. She was not amused, of course, like she already knew stuff like this was going to happen. How many of these fights has she witnessed already? It was probably dozens by now.

"Kinako. You've probably seen them do this multiple times. Worried?" Shikamaru walked up beside her.

"No." The girl with light brown pigtails simply replied as if everything was a normal occurrence. She looked like it too. She was standing beside the fight with her arms crossed over delicately in the front. Her posture remained upright and relaxed. Even her head was steady as if observing and not intervening. There was no point to intervene. She knew the outcome each time.

"How come?"

"I've seen them do this many times at the Academy. Believe it or not, they're friends because they bond through senseless fighting." She suddenly scoffed in disgust. "Boys. I can't understand them sometimes."

"And yet you still tolerate them."

"Isn't it the same thing with you and us?"

She was right on that. Ryuu and Shun fought each other so much that the team slowly disintegrated into civil war with Kinako in the middle. His team just can't cooperate. Out of all the graduating teams, he probably had the most dysfunctional. How troublesome.

But, he still remembered that impressive teamwork they pulled out before in that bell test.

Reading his face, Kinako also smiled. "But, like you, I can see some redeemable qualities in them. Ryuu, no matter how much of an idiotic jerk he is, he is the most courageous and loyal out of us three. And Shun always acts like he doesn't care, but he is actually a big softy underneath."

"And you are?"

"I'm obviously the smartest!" She confidentally replied, smirking right back at him. "Kinda like you."

She's at it again. Shikamaru stepped before her and knelt down. She was nearly at eye level with him. "Before I deal with those two, I'm going to have to set some ground rules with you. If you see something that you shouldn't have, keep it to yourself. This is important during missions. Second, if you see something about me, keep it to yourself. Do not blurt it out. I don't want Ryuu and Shun bagging at me about my personal life."

"Okay." Kinako nodded.

Shikamaru grinned a little and he ruffled her hair. At least one person on this team can understand him. Then again, she already knew everything there is to know about him.

Now...the other two...

"Shadow Imitation Jutsu!" A black shadow suddenly shot out from him and connected to the two troublemakers. When they were at mid punch, their movements suddenly halted and their faces turned to shock.

"Sensei!"

"What was that for?"

"Stop fighting and get over here." Shikamaru yelled and released the jutsu. Like he predicted, they halted all fighting and were scrambling up to catch up. When they arrived, Shikamaru cleared his throat and began, "I've been noticing that the teamwork here is crappy. On missions, you have to be working in a team. So, in order to improve your teamwork, I assigned you guys a mission."

"A mission! Really?" Ryuu excitedly shot up from his seat. "We finally get to kick butt! I can wait to release my awesome jutsu at them! This is going to be awesome!"

"What's the mission?" Shun was skeptical as always.

"Who cares! We finally got a mission! This is so..."

_OoOoO_

"Crappy." Ryuu begrudgingly shoveled up more dirt. "Hey! I thought we were going on a real mission!"

"This is a real mission. And you got more afterwards. Next you have to pick up garbage, sort through mail, pick up delivery items, find lost cats, etc. etc." Shikamaru replied from his place on a bench. He wasn't even looking at his team, but at the clouds.

"So we're doing people's chores?" Shun inquired as he dug his shovel into the ground.

"Precisely. That's a D mission for you."

"But I want to kick butt! I want to fight some hardcore ninjas!" Ryuu loudly complained.

"Then wait until you are a chunin. Right now, you are a genin and genins do D-rank missions."

"How the hell is this going to prepare us as chunins?"

"It builds teamwork."

"But how do we know how to fight and stuff?"

"That's what training is for. Now get back to work!"

"Ryuu. Listen to our sensei or you'll get in trouble." Kinako hissed.

"Oh shut up! Stupid Girl!"

Kinako frowned. "When are you going to stop calling me that? Are you still upset that Sanae didn't end up on your team?"

"Yes! Of course!"

Kinako frowned once again and crossed her arms. "Hmm...I don't talk to her much but I know stuff about her. I know that you are definitely not her type. And she has a crush on someone else."

"And who is that? I'll beat him in a match and show her how much better I am!" Ryuu declared, fist pumping and all.

Kinako pointed. The other boy froze. Of course, there was only one other boy on their team.

"Shun! You? I thought she was the only girl who wasn't part of your fan group. How could you steal her away?"

"You idiot! It's not like I want a pack of fangirls going after me!"

Shikamaru sighed. He watched the clouds freely float by and paid not a slightest bit of attention. They'll sort this out eventually and life would just move on. Missions today. Training tomorrow. That procedure repeated over the course of many days, that's his plan. And eventually, they'll take the Chunin Exams and pass and finally be out of his hair. Who knows? Maybe he could grow attached to these little kids? They've been cooperative till now and it's not like they'll demand something impossible to grant.

"Fine then, if we go on a fighting mission, I'll kick your ass!" Ryuu proclaimed.

"You're on!"

"No." Shikamaru lazily interrupted. He finally got up from his bench.

"Why's that? Can't you ask for a C-rank mission? I heard genin can do C-rank missions." Shun said.

"First of all, experienced genin can do C-rank missions. Second, you guys are not experienced enough and it's too dangerous. Third, don't use missions to settle your feud with each other. That's just being irresponsible."

"Please! Shikamaru-sensei!" Ryuu was now on his knees.

"No means no." Shikamaru sighed and turned his heel. "Now hurry up and finish this mission so we can move on with the next one."

"Come on! Please! If you give us this one, I won't ever bother you again!" Ryuu persevered and Shun and Kinako gazed on with mixed emotions.

"Don't make me strangle you with a shadow."

Ryuu gulped. His sweat dripped from his brow and drained from his face. He wanted to move, but he couldn't. It was not from a shadow though. No. But Shikamaru sure can get scary if he needs to.

Kinako sighed and she swatted the poor albino boy awake. "I told you, you'd get in trouble. And you didn't listen."

"That's what you get for doubting a mind reader." Shun piped in with a smirk.

"I'm not a mind reader."

"Yeah. Yeah." Shun ignored the pissed off girl and knelt before his shocked friend. "But I agree with you on one thing. These missions are useless. Like you, I'm looking for more of a challenge."

Ryuu quickly recovered after hearing him, but he scoffed. "Good luck trying to convince Shikamaru-sensei."

"Who said we had to convince him?" Shun winked and gestured to her.

Kinako's green eyes now fluttered in shock and she quickly shook her hands out in rejection. "Oh no! We're not blackmailing him again! Besides, what I know is not going to be much of an effect against him."

"Kinako." Shun sighed and patted her on the back, bringing her closer. "I'm not talking about our sensei. I'm talking about someone bigger. If you agree with my plan, I'll get Ryuu to do anything you want like say…getting rid of that nickname?"

Kinako blankly stared back at Shun. Now…that is an offer she can't refuse.

_OoOoO_

The old Hokage, Tsunade, stretched out her aching arm. That joint probably spent three hours signing papers and stamping stuff. God! She needed a break! She may be the last remaining Sannin and one of the strongest shinobi to have survived two major wars, but those legacies didn't mean she still had to continue working. She might as well stick the Hokage hat onto Naruto's head and call it a day!

Tsunade chucked away some useless paper with nonsense scribbles and she reached into a drawer below her desk. A secret stash of sake appeared in her hands. Time to drink!

"Tsunade-sama?" A pink-haired medic, Sakura, one of her best-trained students, opened the door. "You have guests."

Three young students walked into her office. One was looking at her very eagerly. One was smirking with a huge bag of coins and other valuables. And the last one was looking down at her feet.

The smirking one set the bag at her desk. "Hello. My name is Shun Tetsuya from the Tetsuya clan. And I have a proposition that you can't refuse: A gamble."

_OoOoO_

"Because most chunins and jounins are doing B and A-rank missions, I thought, since these students have graduated for some time now, they should gain experience from actual ninja missions. Thus, I'm assigning your team, Shikamaru, a C-rank mission."

Shikamaru groaned and wanted to face palm himself if given the chance. But Tsunade would skin him alive if he showed such judgment against her actions so he kept everything to himself. Of course, his cute little team would get much punishment in their next training together. He knew dirt where he could see it. Oh well…right now, he had to concentrate on whatever this mission is. As long as it doesn't involve…

"You are delivering a message to Suna. You'll leave today and I'll expect you back in a week or two." Tsunade paused when she saw no color on Shikamaru's face. "Is something the matter?"

"No…" How troublesome.

_OoOoO_

"All right, whose bright idea was it this time?" Shikamaru targeted his two students sitting before him. Kinako went off to find some berries to snack on in the duration of the trip.

"Both of us." Ryuu and Shun answered back.

Shikamaru paused, processing the fact that these two troublemakers were actually able to work together on this. "Well Ryuu is too stupid to convince the Hokage…"

"Hey!"

"But Shun, why'd you do it?"

"I want a better mission. If there's something I want, I'll definitely make sure I'll get it." Shun finally was able to look at his teacher. His teacher was gladly not furious at him. "Besides, don't put all the blame on us. Kinako was a part of this too."

"Yeah! She was going to tell us if the Hokage was lying on us." Ryuu started to laugh. "But the Hokage is so bad at gambling, we ended up not needing her help!"

Shun quickly jabbed Ryuu with his elbow. "Hey! She can hear you. Besides…she's your teammate, when are you going to stop hating her?"

"She already knows I don't like her. But she'll adjust! No sweat!"

Shikamaru glanced off to his side. Strangely, Kinako should have returned by now. Gathering berries should not take such a long time. And he wasn't an expert at sensing chakra, but he could tell that her chakra was strangely missing. "Boys." Shun and Ryuu stopped arguing, "Shun. Go track down Kinako. I think something happened to her."

Shun nodded. "Space Tracker Jutsu!"

A few minutes passed and Shun still firmly held his technique. It has been such a long time that even worried expressions set in on Shikamaru and Ryuu.

"Hey Shun…" Ryuu shook his friend. "Did you find anything?"

Shun finally released his technique, His eyes shot straight at the river. "She fell down over there and got swept up in the stream."

"I'll find her. Stay here." Shikamaru stood up, but Ryuu beat him to it.

"No. I know the water best. What if there's a fork in the river? I'll have a better chance of finding her!" Ryuu sprinted for the body of water, eager to finally get some action in this trip. "You guys go on ahead! I'll catch up later!"

His dashing feet landed firmly on the water. The stream did nothing to him. He already knew how to walk on that thing. He turned his heel and followed the current, searching for any remaining signs of Kinako whether it was a piece of clothing or her hair or maybe her mangled remains. Nah! This river was not a turbulent channel of death. There was definitely no way! Ryuu finally halted at a muddy river bank. There were footsteps. These footsteps deeply engraved themselves into the dark mud and were headed for the grass. Could it be her?

Ryuu quickly dashed in that direction and flew up the steep river bank. This time, he saw depressed patches of grass, indicating that footsteps also went through this area. Sure enough, after following these footsteps, he saw wet footsteps on the dirt path. Where did these footsteps lead to?

A young girl soaked in her own clothes, holding onto a bag of berries and her bleeding hand, and limping her way up the road which would have connected her back to her teammates.

"Stupid Girl! Found you!" Ryuu sprinted up to her.

She didn't even try to look. "Oh it's you." She kept walking. "Leave me alone. I can get back myself."

"No you can't. You're limping!"

"So what?" Kinako shouted back. "You're probably glad I'm suffering so much right now! I try so hard to cooperate with you and you still hate me! What have I ever done wrong to you?"

'_When are you going to stop hating on her?'_

Ryuu froze. He thought of the situation. A girl, sopping wet, was refusing his help and calling him out for something. He remembered all the stuff he's done to her. Laugh at her, ridicule her, insulting her to name a few. Man. Those were some shitty things he's done. He was the bad guy that Kinako should be afraid of. No wonder Shun always told him to lie off.

Kinako continued inching forward, clearly ignoring the stunned boy behind her. She didn't care. It's not like he cared about her to begin with. She wanted to move further, but something warm and dry covered her shoulders, enough to make her stop.

"What are you doing?" She deadpanned, clearly not amused.

"Get on."

She didn't have a choice in that matter either way. Ryuu already hoisted her onto his back and was bolting for the end of the road. But, the whole way through, Kinako did not struggle. No. She, instead, smiled as she gazed at Ryuu's face. She was satisfied on his sudden change.

"What's with the change of mind?" She teased.

"Shut up. You already know." Ryuu grumbled. "By the way, I'm sorry, for real this time."

"I don't believe you."

"You can read my mind."

"I'm not a mind reader." Kinako began to struggle, making sure Ryuu's grip on her slipped.

"Hey! You'll fall!" Ryuu struggled to make sure she was still on him.

"I'll stop if you do one thing for me. Change that stupid nickname of mine."

Ryuu snorted. "That's such a silly request. Why would you want something like that?"

Kinako finally hugged onto him tightly, assuring him that she won't fall. Ryuu felt his breath tighten a little the more she pressed into him. "I'm jealous. You and Shun always call each other names, but I can still see that those names just make you guys closer. I want to have the same thing. I don't want to feel separate and alone."

Ryuu took his time to answer her. He finally placed on of his hands onto hers, noting their peace. "Alright…Kina-chan…"

"Thank you."

_OoOoO_

"So you ended up not getting any food and getting injured?" Shikamaru said, watching the pained expression set in on poor Kinako. But she didn't do anything wrong. He sighed and stretched, not wanting to prolong this talk. "Whatever, as long as you and dragon boy over there settle your differences, I could care less. We'll rest for a couple more minutes before heading back out. I want to reach the edge of this forest before night sets." He disappeared and reappeared on the treetops, the best view for watching clouds.

"Hey!" Shun suddenly called over at them two, watching their faces both turn in surprise. "So…how'd you guys do it? Anything special happen?"

"Shut up Dead Last!" Ryuu angrily retorted. "Nothing happened between me and Kina-chan!"

"Kina-chan? How cute." Shun smirked, watching his teammates suddenly redden with embarrassment and looking off.

"_Kinako_, since you're our teammate, you can call him anything you want." Ryuu grumbled, glaring at Shun. "And make it painful."

"Hmm…" Kinako tilted her head, probably deep in thought. "Ryuu-chan and Shun-chan."

"Hey! Don't try to make us sound cutesy!" Both yelled at her.

"Okay! Okay! Ryuu-kun and Shun-kun. Happy?" Kinako started to laugh. A laugh that made her cheeks pink and her eyes sparkle.

Her boys gulped and looked away. Of all the times they've known her, interacted with her, and worked with her. It surprised them that she laughed at their jokes and humor. And she looked cute too for once!

This was the first time they saw her with such an expression.

She was happy.

* * *

><p><em>Aww! Look at how cute they all look! So, now that the drama between Ryuu and Kinako is finished, time to commence with the next one. Anyone want to guess? Review! Please?<em>


	5. Mission of the Sand

**Mission of the Sand**

"Wow!" The little chestnut-pigtailed girl gasped in amazement while traveling up through the gate. She sped past the gates of clay and sand, leaving only a mist of dust where her feet thumped onto the ground. Even in such a dry and arid place, she felt like everything was Konoha all over again. Kinako screeched to a stop, turned around, and waved back to her team. "Guys! Hurry up! We don't want to be late!"

"Why is she so happy?" Shun grumbled.

"Who knows? The kid's an explorer." Shikamaru dryly remarked.

"Water!" Ryuu wheezed, and with his face crumpling up, he fell flat onto the ground. A heap of sand ran right into his mouth, prompting the poor boy to cough severely.

"Or maybe, she's happy because this guy's suffering." Shun cheekily remarked and helped Ryuu back to his feet.

"Hey! That's not funny!" Ryuu angrily lashed back, which Shun dodged with ease.

Shun nonchalantly tossed his canteen at his shriveled friend. "Here. Drink up. I've already had my fun watching you cross a desert."

_OoOoO_

_One day ago…_

"_Water! Water! Water!" _

_Splat!_

"_Ryuu-kun! Snap out of it!" Kinako slapped him awake before shoving him off of her._

_Ten hours ago…_

"_I. Don't. Need. Water!" Ryuu happily exclaimed in his world of epiphanies. "Shikamaru-sensei! Do you know what I just discovered! Your shadow techniques would work so well with marionettes. You should start a puppet show with Kina-chan! Modern architecture has never looked quite so divine before. I should take up painting to express myself! How fun is that?"_

"_Shun-kun…" Kinako nervously edged back behind her teammate._

"_Stages of coping…stages of coping…"_

_Six hours ago…_

"_WHY! Why dost this pitiful earth hate me so? A plague on both your houses!" Ryuu wailed into the empty skies as invisible, dramatic ocean waves crashed against the sandy dunes._

_Four hours ago…_

"_That's it…I'm going to die…"_

"_You're not going to die." Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he carried his downed student._

"_No. I'm definitely going to die. I can't feel my lungs. My eyes hurt. My throat is so dry. My voice refuses to come out. I'm nearly approaching my untimely death. I just want to leave my wills before I perish in this despicable state! For Shun, he gets nothing. For my dearly Sanae-chan…"_

"_So…what comes after 'death seeker' phase?" Kinako whispered to Shun._

"_I don't know. This is the farthest he's gone."_

_Two hours ago…_

"_I pray before the mighty cactus! Please befell me with your juices and I shall forever surrender myself to your eternal wake of sovereignty!" Ryuu bowed down over a small cactus plant._

_OoOoO_

Ryuu's face suddenly turned to disgust and he turned away, grumbling words such as, "That was not funny…I hate you all", and as such.

"Heh", Shun chuckled before turning towards Shikamaru. "So sensei, should we deliver it now?"

"That's the plan." Shikamaru glanced at his still downed student and Kinako frolicking around Suna markets. "But then again…I don't see a problem taking a break for a little bit."

_OoOoO_

'They should be arriving shortly…' Gaara further contemplated this thought that has imbedded itself in his head. Ever since he sent out a request message to Konoha, he's been pacing about his own office. Of course, Matsuri and his sibling became worried and they've came in for assistance. Gaara dismissed them. He knew this message was not something that really concerned him.

It really concerned his oldest sibling. Temari.

"Gaara? I'm here. Why did you call for me?" Speak of the devil. Here she comes.

"I think you're aware that the biannual Chunin Exams are coming up."

"It's taking place in Konoha in three months' time. I know. Why would you ask?" Temari leaned up against the door's frame. She was obviously tired and bored. Even so, the gears in her head were still churning. But why did he have to address her for such a trivial matter?

"As Suna's liaison to Konoha, you are required to travel back and forth between the two villages especially during preparations for the Chunin Exams. But I want to send you back there a little ahead of schedule."

"I'm fine with that." Temari shrugged her shoulders. "But why do you seem so concerned?"

Gaara suddenly pulled out a scroll and tossed it over to her. Judging by color alone, she could tell it was a mission request form and it was a C-rank mission.

"A relative of an important daimyo is to be escorted into the Land of Fire. And since your route is on the way, I think it would be convenient to get this mission out of the way by having you take it. Of course, since this involves a daimyo from the Land of Fire, Konoha ninjas are coming here to be your back-up." Gaara briefly explained to her, still seeing no reaction. "Because this is a C-rank mission, you should most likely expect a genin team or a low-level Chunin. So don't start any troubles."

"Sure why not?" Temari still seemed unfazed. "Should I leave now?"

"Or wait for the team to arrive." A light voice from a little girl erupted into the dry office. Temari and Gaara turned around, only to find a young female ninja wearing a white dress and black tights who was holding up a scroll. "Here's a message from Lady Tsunade."

"Where's the rest of your team?" Gaara asked after taking up the scroll.

Kinako pointed out the door. "My sensei should be coming up, but he needs to deal with my other teammates. They sure did stir up trouble. That's going to take some time. And don't count on my sensei coming here right afterwards. He's so lazy; he might stop at one of your windows to watch the clouds."

"What kind of bullshit are you spreading around now?" A relaxed, yet monotone voice rang out from behind little Kinako.

Of course, she was not frightened, but she caught onto someone else that flinched even a little bit. "It's not bullshit if it's true." Kinako shrugged and turned her heel out the door. "I'll leave you adults to chat."

But as she was walking down the hallway, she smiled and a soft chuckle escaped from her lips. 'How interesting!'

A silence drifted into the room, an awkward silence where one person was staring at another and not saying a word. Temari was staring at Shikamaru and then back at Gaara. Gaara was glancing back and forth between Shikamaru and Temari. Of course, Shikamaru merely looked unfazed at the whole situation, granted that he already knew beforehand.

"So it was you, I should have known when Gaara told me." Temari smirked, laughing at her own stupidity.

"Look. I didn't even want this mission, but my genin team forced me to take it. So don't complain to me if things start to get annoying for you."

She scoffed, "Oh please, I would much rather enjoy the company of your genins than..."

"You'll meet up with your traveler if you go east for two kilometers. Temari, you can debrief the team later." Gaara hastily pushed out the two bickering children out of his office via sand and promptly shut the door. Good thing he can act fast! As the Kazekage could now rest in peace, Tsunade's message slowly unfurled itself after the string tying it together had broken. It was not a long message. It was quite brief and direct like an order was placed. 'Get them back together', signed Tsunade.

"It's been a long time since I've last seen you." Temari remarked once they were outside.

"Three years."

"Three peaceful years."

"You still can't be holding a grudge after those three years."

"After what you've done to me, I have every right to hold a grudge." Temari huffed, "Just to let you know, once this mission is done, I'm going straight into Chunin Exam duties. I'm not speaking to you. Got it?"

A couple meters ahead, Kinako quickly fled from her hiding spot and regrouped with Shun and Ryuu. "Shikamaru-sensei is coming. And he's with that girl I saw earlier!"

"Who is she? Is she that 'girlfriend' you mentioned earlier?" Shun and Ryuu both asked.

Kinako nodded, "Probably. I used to see them together a lot back when I was still working at my bakery shop. But they don't seem to be on good terms right now..."

"They're coming!" Shun hissed and the three of them quickly scrambled apart once the two adults arrived.

"What are you planning?" Shikamaru asked. After these few weeks with his team, he knew dirt where he could see it.

"Nothing!" They all chorused. What a lie!

"Suspicious of your own genin team? You all must work so well together." Temari smirked.

"Shut up."

Temari ignored him. She knelt down before Kinako and held out her hand. "Hello. You were that girl who came into Gaara's office earlier. My name is Temari. What's yours?"

"Kinako!" The eager little girl grabbed onto Temari's hand faster than a kunai being thrown. "Kinako Keiganu. This is Shun Tetsuya and Ryuu Mizuno."

"How are you?" Ryuu enthusiastically waved to her.

"Nice to meet you." Shun simply said.

"Wow you sure are pretty!" Ryuu quickly interjected.

Temari smirked as she tugged onto the poor water boy's cheek. "Flattery is going to get you nowhere. You three kids have a new mission."

"Huh?"

_OoOoO_

Kinako stared out her carriage window in boredom. Here she was, being transported out with the next supposed daimyo in line. Who knows? She just knew this boy sitting across from her was special and held utmost importance. Kinako sighed and she peeked out the window once again. Ryuu and Shun were in the lead of this royal parade. They were assigned the "first line of defense". If any rogue ninja decided to attack, they would have to deal with her boys first. After them was her sensei and Temari. They were the second line of defense also known as back up if Ryuu and Shun fail. Figures. Shikamaru is lazy to begin with. Then there were the royal guards assigned to escort this prince and then there was her. She was officially the last line of defense and thus, she needed to be with this daimyo prince 24/7 in the duration of this trip.

"Hey! Would you stop staring out the window? It makes me nervous that someone is going to attack." The royal prince waved his hand in front of her.

"Oh... Sorry…" Kinako closed the curtain, obscuring her view to the outside. Inside. There's nothing much to look at other than this gentleman in front of her.

"Hm...What's your name?" The prince intensely stared at her, getting as close as a few centimeters away.

"Kinako Keiganu." Kinako nervously sank back further in her seat. He's getting a bit too close for comfort…

"I'm one of the heirs for a daimyo of the Land of Fire. My name is Kurosuke Nijimara. It's nice to meet you!" He enthusiastically shook her hand.

"Uh...nice to meet you too…" Kinako shook back. He's a bit too happy for her...

"It's nice to know such a cute girl is protecting me." Kurosuke smiled before backing off.

What! A compliment! Kinako felt something hot rise to her cheeks. She never heard such a compliment before! All she's been hearing was Ryuu's constant insults to her, Shun's uncaring comments, Shikamaru occasional words of achievement, and lastly, her father. He always wanted her to become a baker like him instead of a ninja like her estranged mother. After she enrolled herself into the Ninja Academy and graduated, her father never really spoke much to her other than barking out orders during her shifts. But now! After being called "cute", Kinako could simply just faint!

"Huh? Hey! You're turning red! Are you okay?"

Ryuu tilted his kunai a bit to sharpen up the other side. But there was more. His kunai acted like a mirror and he could see everything behind him. And by everything, he even meant those two shadows moving around so weirdly in the carriage. Occasionally, Ryuu would sneak peeks at Shun and Shikamaru to get their reactions. Shikamaru looked too preoccupied talking with Temari to care, but Shun, on the other hand, looked really…annoyed.

"Wow. Kina-chan sure looks like she's having fun with her job!"

Shun shot a glare at him. "We're supposed to be on the job. She's not working seriously."

"Hah! You don't like it!" Ryuu confidently accused. "Fess up! I know you don't like her messing with him! Aww! Look at you! You're getting jealous, aren't you? Dead Last!"

"Why the hell are you bringing it up?" Shun angrily yelled back whilst bonking Ryuu in the head. "I think you're the one who's jealous. That's why you're bringing this up in the first place!"

"Am not! My heart only belongs to Sanae!"

Their loud noises of constant arguing drifted back even to the second line of defense. As much as neither Temari nor Shikamaru wanted, they were stuck together in this mission. Well, at least they were a good three feet apart when stuck together.

"Your students are ridiculously loud. This is an important mission so tell them to tone it down." Temari criticized them all, placing at least a dent on his pride.

"They're just like that. I can't do anything about it."

She haughtily scoffed, "Don't blame me if this parade gets attacked by rogue ninjas because those two gave our position away. And why would you put them in the front anyways? It'll inflate their egos."

"But if I don't, they will be complaining this entire trip."

"You bend too easily to your students."

"Just like you used to bend easily to me…"

"Not anymore." Temari huffed and her mouth changed subjects. "Speaking of your students, why is the last one sitting in the carriage? Why can't she be in the front along with the rest of her teammates?"

"Striking up a conversation? I thought you weren't speaking to me?"

"I said after this mission." Temari rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood for games.

And he seemed to get the message. "I put her there because we can't trust this daimyo-to-be traveler. If he wanted safe transport into the Land of Fire, why did he have to ask Suna? He doesn't trust Konoha ninjas for some reason meaning that little kid is trying to hide something from Konoha. That's where Kinako comes in because she'll be able to read whatever secrets he's hiding."

"So…she's a mind reader?"

"Nope, she's not even reading minds in the first place." Shikamaru smirked.

A smirk Temari remembered so fondly of, as much as she hated to admit, that she felt her cheeks burn by reflex. Damn it! Stop! She quickly turned her attention away from him and forced her brain to remember those images of the Chunin Exam three years back. Those horrible images, they made her declare she would never see him again. And she intended to keep it!

Kinako glimpsed back out again. Something was wrong with that woman. She could see it perfectly. The side of that Sand woman's face was all she needed to read.

"Hey Kinako-san?" Kurosuke tugged onto her sleeve. "Why did you decide to become a ninja?"

"Me?" Kinako placed a finger on her lip in thought.

Kurosuke nodded, "Do you like being a ninja? Is that your dream? Well…that's what I hear from ninja students my father knows in Konoha. Dreams…"

Dreams? What was her dream? Why did she want to pursue this career? Kinako thought long and hard. Why? She knew that partially, she wanted to openly defy her father despite his wishes. That was the truth. Did she want more adventure in her quiet life? But, even those daily rush hours in the bakery proved to be enough adventure. Or maybe, she wanted to follow the path of her mother, also known as, the woman who left her at age two. Kinako barely remembered anything about her mother, much less, wanting to follow her mother's footsteps.

So why? Kinako couldn't answer.

"I see…you don't know yourself…" Kurosuke suddenly sighed in relief. "You know, if you are still lost, I can always take you in like a personal guard. Life in nobility is pretty easygoing. You don't have to worry about dying the next day or not being fed. You can live out every day as carefree as you like!"

Instead of being surprised like a flustered girl, Kinako narrowed her emerald eyes at this boy. "And what makes you think I'll take up that offer?"

"Because why would you train so hard to become a ninja if you don't know your own purpose for it." He simply replied with a small blush creeping to his cheeks. "Besides…I don't want you to die."

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. What was that? Did he say something actually meaningful or did it mean something entirely different? But he's so kind. She never met anyone as kind and warmhearted as him. Kinako opened her mouth a little and soft voice came out. "Kurosuke-san, I…"

"Kina-chan! Watch out!"

Thud! A kunai shot straight through the ceiling of this tight carriage and lodged itself into the wooden floors between Kinako and Kurosuke. Neither was cut from this little kunai. But what Kinako worried most was the huge tag stuck at the end of the kunai. An exploding tag! Shit! Those things explode in seconds! She didn't have that time! The tag began to spark and the little paper fibers glowed a deathly yellow and orange.

"Hidden Technique: Reverse Tool Summoning!"

Just like that, the kunai vanished from the floorboards. Kurosuke breathed out a sigh of relief. It's okay. They were safe. But Kinako quickly pulled him towards her and held onto him tightly.

Boom!

The carriage lurched into a midair spiral, tossing and turning, occasionally flipping a full circle. Kinako winced in pain as her back uncomfortably landed on the wooden walls and her knees scraped against the hot floor. But through it all, she held tightly onto the boy, making sure he doesn't get hurt. He can't get hurt! She won't allow it!

"Wind Release: Gentle Whirlwind!" Ryuu quickly ran up to the landed carriage and threw open the door. "Kina-chan! Are you alright? Is he alright?"

"Yes, we're both fine." Kinako quickly let him go, but the aching pain shot back up through her body once she moved. Damn! She must have damaged more than she thought!

"Kinako. We have to move quickly." Shun also barged through the door with an expression of worry.

"Right." Kinako nodded. She tried to get up back to her feet, but to no avail, her legs collapsed once again and she fell back into the little carriage. It hurts! Everything stung like a million needles! Her knees and arms were bruised like crazy and she probably messed up her back badly.

"You can't get up." Shun reached down, pulled her arm around his neck, and his other hand grabbed onto her waist. He easily hoisted her up into a standing position and let her lean up against him for support. "Ryuu. You get the prince over there. We'll make a break for it in the forest."

"Wait!" Kinako looked at Kurosuke. "First, you should retrieve whatever you were hiding under your seat this whole time."

Kurosuke croaked and sweat dripped down the temple of his forehead. Crap! The jig is up! He reluctantly lifted up the cushion of one of the seats, revealing a hidden door. Swinging it open, he reached down and grabbed onto a scroll before bolting away from the three ninjas and into the forest.

"That little punk!" Ryuu angrily ran after him.

However, neither got far because a noticeable shadow snaked through the plain of grass and captured both of the boys into a bind. "Shadow Imitation Jutsu is a success." Shikamaru wisely undid Kurosuke and let him run straight into Temari.

The strong woman picked up the brash kid via collar and held him at eye level. All three genins could see the boy starting to sweat.

"Start talking."

* * *

><p><em>Yes. I'm still posting. Review!<em>


	6. Secret Scroll

**Chapter Six: Secret Scroll**

Kinako groaned and made soft shrieks as the cool medication was rubbed into her back. It left a cooling sensation. But it sure stung a lot! Her scraped knees were also applied the same medicine and they were already wrapped in gauze. After a couple minutes, she felt a large bandage wrap around her chest and stomach and cover her back fully. Once she felt no more pain, she easily sat back up and proceeded in dressing herself.

"Are you sure you're okay?" A worried Shun asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks for taking care of me." Kinako weakly smiled at him. "I'm surprised you're not taking part of the interrogation. I thought you'd like some action too in this mission."

"Ryuu's the eager idiot that wants action, not me. I'd rather keep our team together first." Shun responded while he helped Kinako walk back to their group.

Kinako stole a glance with him, reading everything about him. "You know...you're really sweet under that cold exterior."

"Um...thanks?" Shun awkwardly looked away.

Finally, the two managed to reach everyone else. Shikamaru and Temari were standing over the daimyo prince, each glaring down on him. Ryuu was especially glaring because he practically hovered over the poor boy. On the other hand, the daimyo prince had a stubborn look like he was not going to do any bidding whatsoever. By the looks of it, it seemed like not much information was retrieved.

"Fess up! Tell the truth!" Ryuu was yelling at him now.

"I am. This scroll is nothing more but a message to my great grandfather from my estranged father, whom I was visiting. It's nothing more than a personal matter!" He insisted.

"That's a lie!"

"It's the truth!"

Shikamaru calmly placed his hand on Ryuu's shoulder, prompting him to quiet down. "It's no use. You're not going to get anything out of him that way."

"That's because I'm telling the truth!"

"He's lying." A small voice prompted everyone to shut up. Kinako suddenly emerged from the background with Shun's help.

"Kinako! Why? How?"

"That scroll doesn't even contain any messages. He wasn't visiting his great grandfather." Kinako's face hardened as she glared down at the boy. "Try lying to me again."

"I still can!" He insisted. "I have been trained to block off my mind from mind readers like you!"

Kinako sighed and shook her head. "First of all, what you just said confirms you're lying. Second, you're bluffing. Again. And third, I'm not reading your mind."

He gasped, "Then what! How?"

"Kinako here is not a mind reader, but a face reader." Shikamaru explained. "She bases off most of her predictions just by reading your facial expressions. It saves chakra, but it's not the best way of retrieving information. You have to have really good analyzing skills to make it work. Her intense accuracy just shows how a superior analyst she is."

"Wow! So that's what you've been doing this whole time!" Ryuu exclaimed in admiration.

"Wait! You mean you just found out? I had it figured out in a week!" Shun exclaimed.

"Well Ryuu is stupid." Shikamaru sighed, "I figured it out in a day."

"I knew only a couple hours after meeting her." Temari also piped in.

"With my help."

Temari shot a deadly glare at Shikamaru. She crossed her arms and looked away in frustration.

"Anyways, fess up. It's useless if you lie."

Kurosuke gritted his teeth in frustration and he quickly turned away. Nonetheless, he had to speak because if not, these ninjas can beat him into a bloody pulp. "The scroll contains hidden techniques from a few clans of the Northwest. While traveling, my father stumbled in on their little plan to possibly invade the Fire Country. When I visited him, he was about to go on the run, and before he left me, he gave me this scroll of their hidden techniques. He told me to somehow get it back to the Hokage."

"Then why didn't you just give it to her? Why enlist our allies in your scheme?" Ryuu asked.

"Because I'm only a little kid. It's like trusting a boy who cried wolf." Kurosuke bitterly replied.

Kinako glanced at his face before she nodded in agreement. "He's right. Nobody is going to trust a little kid unless he's got hard evidence. But the same is on the flip side." She shot a look up towards her sensei.

"He can't trust us because we might possibly take away that scroll for our own gain. That's why he went to the Sand because this situation doesn't concern them at all. Plus, if everything goes right, he gains our allies on his side so we have to believe him." Shikamaru finished for her. "That's a big risk you're taking, kid."

Kurosuke silently nodded.

"Hey! Wait! You're just going to trust him like that!" Ryuu exclaimed.

Kinako stared him down and replied, "He's telling the truth."

"And this is still a mission", Shikamaru also stated, "Let's get this kid back to Konoha. Shun and Ryuu, continue your old positions in our formation. Kinako, switch with me and Temari and be the second line of defense. We'll extend formation by five meters now that there are no guards to protect."

"Right!" They all scattered.

But instead, once they reached their formation, Shun quickly pulled over Ryuu to his side. "Ryuu", Shun urgently whispered to his friend. "You have to act fast if that kid is going to try something."

"Why?" Ryuu whispered back, confused. "I thought you guys said we could trust him!"

"Idiot! That was a lie. Both Kinako and Shikamaru were bluffing the whole time!" Shun whispered. "Look, even I don't know what those two are planning, but we have to follow orders."

"Bullshit! I'm not following any orders until I find out what's going on!" Ryuu yelled back and that instant, he vanished...right next to Kinako. "Kina-chan!"

"Ryuu! Keep your voice down!" Kinako shrieked and clapped her hand over his mouth. "What do you want?"

"Tell me what's going on. Stop keeping me and Shun out of the loop", he whispered.

"I can't! Shikamaru-sensei will get mad!"

"He's not gonna hear!"

Kinako sighed, defeated, "Alright. But promise you won't freak out?"

Behind them, Shikamaru sighed in a mixture of defeat and disgust. Of course, Ryuu was going to completely disregard orders and completely ruin the plan. That was his nature. Sooner or later, he'd find out about everything and try to pick a fight with Kurosuke. And so, too lazy to stop him and to cut to the chase, Shikamaru approached the boy himself. "Ryuu's not here anymore. So you can tell me what you're really doing here."

"What is a boy from the Land of Water doing in your team?"

"He's an immigrant. He came here five years ago." Shikamaru promptly said. "So, is everything you said true or should I bring back Kinako?"

"No. That's not necessary." Kurosuke sighed. "I don't trust him, Ryuu Mizuno. He's an enemy now."

"He's in our territory now by choice. Ryuu can't be our enemy." Shikamaru stood adamant on keeping his team member safe.

"I sensed his lineage the moment I first laid eyes on him." Kurosuke suddenly spoke, which peaked both of the teachers' interests. "His natural chakra signature…that was what gave it away. I believe his clan's secret techniques should be written somewhere in this scroll. Of course, if the members of his clan hadn't already cut off my father's hands!"

"So, your father actually died before passing these secrets to you." Shikamaru guessed and Kurosuke's distraught mood gave him his answer.

He understood this kid from that moment. And he knew Kinako sympathized with him and Ryuu when she found out, thus lying to keep Ryuu from finding out the truth…that his clan was planning an invasion. And knowing that this kid might be seeking vengeance on his father's death, she somehow had Shun warn Ryuu to maintain alertness. This girl was smart…just like Shikamaru.

Now if only her brains rubbed off on Ryuu…

"My clan's super ultra-super secret techniques are in there! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! GIMME!" Ryuu eagerly launched for the scroll held by Kurosuke, only to be picked up by Temari by his back collar.

"No! You don't get the scroll and that's final!" Temari berated him, noticeably annoyed.

"But Temari-sensei!" The young, hyperactive ninja pleaded. "My mom never told me about my background or family history or anything! I want to know how awesome I can be!"

"You can be as _'awesome'_ as you want after we give this scroll to the Hokage."

"Come on!" He switched his focus to his own sensei. "Shikamaru-sensei! Help me out here!"

Shikamaru glanced at his ex-girlfriend and she only glared back at him for if he even dared to move once. Knowing how _troublesome_ this woman can get and the current situation that they were in, he opted for the most reasonable choice.

"Sorry kid. But get back to your spot."

"Screw you!" Ryuu quickly released himself from Temari's grip. He quickly released his scarf, whipping it to curl around the scroll in Kurosuke's hands and whipping it back into his own hands. Shun triumphantly hurled himself into the air using a wind technique and he glided over to the front of the team, past Shun.

Shikamaru groaned and he face-palmed himself. That kid does _not_ know who he's messing with!

The wind mistress smirked to herself. "He's a wind user! I think it's required _I _discipline your kids." She pulled out her humongous fan from behind her, tilting it far behind her for the first kill.

That's it. Ryuu was as good as dead.

But, right at that moment, Ryuu felt a sudden pull on his scarf and his beck was uncomfortably tightened. Whatever it was, it yanked on his scarf so abruptly that he could feel his neck almost snapped! When Ryuu turned back, a masked ninja flew out and snatched the scroll. Of course, not ready to back down, Ryuu angrily landed repeated punches and kicks on the man, determined not to have his only discovery taken away. "Give it back to me!" He yelled and pummeled further.

"Shut up kid!" The ninja immediately clocked him in the face and promptly left Ryuu wallowing on the ground.

"Shit!" Temari quickly leapt to the high branches of the forest and followed after the rogue ninja.

"Kinako! Protect Kurosuke!"

Kinako nodded at her teacher's orders, pulled out a kunai knife, and stood guard with the boy.

"Shun! Pick up Ryuu and follow me!" Shikamaru also followed suit after Temari.

"Got it!" Shun quickly ran up to Ryuu and pushed him back up to his feet. "You okay, dude?"

"Yeah…I'm fine." Ryuu winced as his foot touched the ground. He must have strained it or twisted it when he landed or something. But that didn't matter! What mattered now was the scroll! "Shun!"

"What's up?"

"Follow after our sensei. Scope the grounds for that rogue ninja. When you find him, immediately transport to the location. We're going to land a surprise attack."

Shun frowned, "What are the chances of that working? We're not strong enough to defeat a high level ninja."

"But we can still grab the scroll and make a run for it!" Ryuu insisted. "Besides, we're nearing Konoha forests. That guy is almost on our turf now!"

Shun stood there, thought for a moment, and sighed in agreement. For such a stupid kid like Ryuu, he had a valid point. "Fine", Shun agreed, "Make sure you keep up."

Shun quickly vanished in the trees above. Ryuu quickly followed as well, not willing to lose now. They were pretty far from the enemy as they sensed Shikamaru's chakra grow thinner and thinner. Nonetheless, that still meant they picked something up and if they traveled any further, they'll eventually pick up Temari's chakra and finally, the perpetrator. So, while Shun and Ryuu were hurriedly playing catch up, Shun prepared for his special technique.

"I got Temari-sensei's chakra!" Ryuu replied as he sped forward. "I can almost feel him! Are you ready yet?"

"Almost!" Shun already had full control of his chakra and prepared his hand signs. "We need to be a little bit further and ahead of that guy for this plan to work!"

Ryuu gritted his teeth and forced his body to push forward. By the speed and distance they were going, they might even bump into Shikamaru! And that happened!

"Ryuu! Shun!"

"Sensei! Sensei!" Ryuu eagerly leaped by his teacher's side. "We got a plan! We're going to ambush him!"

"Ambush? That's dangerous! And with your level of skills, it's not going to work!"

"We're not fighting him." Shun countered and he traveled beside Shikamaru. "We're going to grab the scroll and you and Temari can finish him off."

"Come on sensei!" Ryuu begged. "Let us do this! Please!"

Shikamaru glanced back and forth between his two students. He had a good feeling their plan, as outrageous as it was, it could probably work. But even though they were risking the lives of his best students, he knew what the fastest speed they were traveling at and it was not fast enough. They needed a break from this pattern.

"Fine."

"Yes!" Shun and Ryuu high-fived each other.

"But, as soon as you get that scroll, run. Don't try to fight back. If he gets it back, then that's the end of your plan. Got it?"

"Got it!" Both of them eagerly sprung forward.

They're so going to screw up that plan somehow. But so, Shikamaru had to follow up on his part of the plan. He hurriedly traveled up to Temari (not that he couldn't before) and whispered their plan into her ear. After a moment of agreements and confusion, she jumped forward to initiate her part of the plan.

The masked ninja hastened to jump from branch to branch. He was visibly growing nervous just from his awkward steps in every single one of his leaps. He knew he was going in the wrong direction. This forest was in Konoha. But could he turn back? He couldn't because there was already a pack of ninjas at his tail!

"Now!"

Shun and Ryuu suddenly appeared in front of him in a cloud of smoke. Shun maintained a hand sign while Ryuu eagerly jumped off Shun's back to punch their assailant. The albino kid quickly grabbed the scroll and along with Shun, both made a run for cover at the ground level.

"Hey! You brats!" The ninja tried to move after them, but his legs and feet were still. Not only that, but his arms and body and head were also still. He couldn't move anything at all! The reason? As he glanced down at his feet, a black shadow trailed out from underneath, down the tree, and up to another shadow.

Shikamaru smirked. "Shadow Imitation Technique is a success."

Growing ever more anxious, the ninja tried using willpower alone to break out of his bonds. But that soon became pointless because another ninja appeared above him with a large and deadly fan.

"Sickle Weasel Technique!" Temari cried and swiped her fan.

Gusts of deadly wind tunneled right for the ninja, leaving cuts and bruises on every part of his body. He cried in agonizing pain while falling off the highest branch of the tree. Shikamaru watched the poor ninja land horribly before quickly leaving the scene. He was sure Temari could handle one very injured prisoner herself. But that scroll! Who knows if Ryuu had opened it by now? What if he found something he knew he shouldn't? Shikamaru sensed their chakra and headed towards that location. His boys were huddled behind a bush. He could see pages of the scroll out with characters hastily written in ink. Crap! It was too late! They already opened it!

Ryuu sensed his sensei was near and he hurriedly rolled up the scroll and quickly tossed it back. "I didn't look at the techniques okay? I just looked at my family history!"

"But still, our orders were to not look at this scroll! We're going to have to talk with Tsunade about your punishment." Shikamaru replied with hints of crossed anger before picking both of his boys up. "Let's go back to the village. I already sent word for Kinako to bring Kurosuke back. Once he's done with his business with our village, he'll get another squad to escort him home."

"Right sensei!"

_OoOoO_

"How was the fighting?" Kinako quickly ran up to her boys when they approached.

Kurosuke was leaning against the village gates, waiting patiently for his property to arrive back. Once he saw his scroll, he immediately went up to Shikamaru and held up his hand.

"I would like my stuff back please."

"Sorry kid, this belongs to the Hokage now. She'll figure out what to do with it." Shikamaru politely rejected even though he was irked at the kid's haughty behavior.

Yet Kurosuke looked a little pissed off at first, but he quickly simmered down and sighed.

On the other hand, Kinako berated her team with eager questions. "How was it? What did you do? How hard was it?"

"It was fine! We didn't do a lot of fighting." Shun quickly replied.

"Sorry we had to leave you with the brat." Ryuu glared at Kurosuke who equally glared back.

"It was fine! He's nice once you get to know him." Kinako insisted. "But two ninjas attacked us so I had to handle it myself!"

"Whoa! How'd you do it?" Ryuu eagerly asked.

"I trapped them!" Kinako smiled whilst holding up a spool of wire. The nearly-invisible, but shiny strands fell gracefully onto each of her fingers. It was quite a wonder she managed to construct a trap out of that! She suddenly turned towards Shikamaru. "Did you get my message?"

"I got it. Temari's already rounding them up and bringing those three to interrogation." Shikamaru said. "I'll bring this kid to the Hokage right now. Any final words?"

Kurosuke eagerly eyed Kinako who noticed him back. Sadly, she shook her head. "My decision is clear. Sorry."

"Alright…I understand." Kurosuke sighed before turning. "You can take me there now."

Shikamaru nodded and held onto the kid's hand before disappearing in a whirlwind of leaves. The three genin students watched their sensei disappear and continued to watch until the last leaf landed on the ground. And that was it. That was the end of their first, real mission. Everyone was tired! But everyone was still filled with lingering questions.

"Kina-chan? What did that brat want from you?" Ryuu suspiciously asked.

"He wanted me to join his personal guard." Kinako replied and she suddenly hugged both of them. "But I rejected him! I just can't leave _my_ boys!"

"Hey! Hey! Stop this hugging! My neck still hurts!" Ryuu cried out while Shun just stayed quiet. But Ryuu soon grew ecstatic once again. "But guess what?"

"What?"

"I got a peek at the scroll!" Ryuu exclaimed while Kinako grew surprised.

"Too bad you didn't get to practice a technique." Shun smirked as Ryuu steadily grew pissed off.

"Hey! I'll find someone who knows my clan! And soon, I will learn my kekkei genkai! I just need to find someone!"

"What is your clan?" Kinako asked. She was separated from the group so she didn't know.

Ryuu confidently twirled around and he pointed up to Kinako before the sky. "I'm from the Yuki clan, the clan of deathly ice users!"

* * *

><p><em>Do you remember the Yuki clan? I'll give you a hint: Crystal Ice Mirrors. Glad to see some canon stuff is coming back? Well there's going to be even more canon characters showing up. This was part of my triple release. Review!<em>


	7. New And Old Bonds

_Fuck! School starts! That means crappy updating times!_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven: New and Old Bonds<strong>

Shun and Ryuu hung out alone in a Konoha alley way. It was merely a short street with bamboo fences on both sides. Konoha was rebuilt in a hole, after Pain leveled the major village, that only few extremely large buildings were constructed to create a necessary shade. Shun seemed to be practicing summoning his feline contract companions and occasionally using them to play pranks on Ryuu. That composed of summoning a large tiger or lion or both and making it creep up on Ryuu. On the other hand, Ryuu would try to counter this prank with his trademark wind and water elemental techniques, though he was using them in funky ways, probably wanting ice to pop up miraculously. The reason these boys were playing alone was that Kinako was late and Shikamaru had told them to train as a group while he handled official business. And before he left, Ryuu made him promise to get his clan's techniques from the scroll.

Soon, Kinako appeared to catch up with her team. "Hey guys!" She suddenly fell back when a tiger pounced and licked her rosy cheeks. "Ah! That tickles! Shun-kun, did you summon this tiger?"

Shun nodded. "Yeah. I guess she really likes you."

"And really hates me." Ryuu grumbled back. "Kina-chan! Why were you so late?"

"Oh! I had a talk with my dad. It's nothing." Kinako brushed off. "Anyways what are we doing today?"

"Training." Shun simply replied.

"I see. So Shikamaru-sensei had to handle the scroll issue."

"Good guess." Shun nodded.

Ryuu immediately jumped in front of Shun, ecstatic. "Hey! Once he gets the scroll, I'm going to learn all of my clan's awesome techniques and be a powerful ninja!"

Kinako peered over his shoulder and she recognized a team of ninjas walking towards them. The female sported long dark hair that was easy to pinpoint. "Hey! Isn't that Sanae?"

"Sanae? Sanae!" Ryuu suddenly switched from a hyperactive child to an embarrassed and worried person as he tried to fix himself a good image. Honing nothing but confidence, he coolly turned back as she approached him. "Hey San-"

"Shun!" The dark haired beauty eagerly ran up to Ryuu's best friend, effectively ignoring Ryuu in the process (and breaking his heart).

"Oh. Hello Sanae. How are you?" Shun politely greeted. Truthfully, he hated girls that swooned unnecessarily over him in public. But Sanae was a good person so he had no real reason to go bat-shit insane on her.

Sanae Amanashi. She was highly regarded as the beauty of her class and a distinct prodigy, perhaps to the level of Shun's legacy. She came from a notable clan that recently sprung up with their unique usage of genjutsu. Sanae has shown multiple times in class her prowess in genjutsu, even though it led jealous girls to spread rumors that she mind controlled boys into making them fall in love with her, but her kind nature was enough to make boys smitten, namely Ryuu. She was an average sized girl with long black hair that travelled down her back and cool gray eyes. Interestingly, she wore her Konoha headband as an actual headband. Her clothes were a dark blue kimono-like top with flowers and her initials embroidered on the sleeves and a distinct red obi tied into a bow at the back. Along with her lavish outfit, she wore simple brown short shorts and sandals and she carried along a small sword among her other ninja gear. Her outfit screamed money and it was true. Her clan was notably a wealthy clan as well.

After swooning over Shun, like a little girl with a crush, Sanae finally noticed a group member she recognized. "Hello Kinako! How are you?"

"I'm good." Kinako politely greeted back.

Sanae took a double take at the team. There was someone missing. "Where's your third person?"

"Over there." Shun pointed to the depressed boy sulking in the corner in fetal position.

"Ryuu! Hi!" Sanae waves over at him, but her hands were suddenly caught by the boy who eagerly sprung back to life.

"S-Sanae! I'm very, very, very well! Thank you for asking! You look beautiful as always! You smell nice too!" Ryuu exclaimed like a goofball in all his happiness.

"Umm…thanks?" Sanae nervously replied as she tried to squeeze her hands out of his grasp. He was always the weird but cute one, in her opinion, while Shun was the cool and handsome one and Kinako was the smart and clever one.

"Sanae nee-san! Stop playing around with the other teams. They're our rivals remember?" A gruff voice called up from behind her.

"Right. Sorry Kenji." Sanae stepped back and returned to her team.

"Hey! Would you look at that! The dumb brawn, the helpless brain, and the gorgeous beauty are a team. What do you call yourselves? The Triple B?" Ryuu sneered, earning the ire from their jock leader.

Sanae laughed instead, thinking the nicknames were pretty cute. The other boy, Megane Yoshiya, merely readjusted his thick-framed glasses and continued typing away in his electronic tablet. Truthfully, he was more of a nerd than a smart guy, but Ryuu wanted everything to go along with a theme. Hence, the Triple B: brawn, brain, and beauty.

The brawn was, by process of elimination, Kenji Ootashin. He was labeled as the toughest guy ever in their class. The well-built, but surprisingly lanky guy used to pick on people back when he was a little kid, but Sanae's scolding got him to change, much to his misfortune. He was also, strangely, one of the few boys who did not have a crush on Sanae; probably because he grew up with her as the authority figure that kept him in line. Ironically, he self-assigned himself as the leader. Kenji wore his headband on his forehead like most students. He wore a red-brown rusty jacket on top of a black wife beater. He also wore dark green slacks that loosely encompassed his legs. Basically, he looked like any grungy teenage boy except with messy black hair and chocolate eyes and a scar run vertically down his face on his right eye.

After his stare down with the leader, Ryuu turned his attention to the nerdy kid. "Hey! What are you typing in that rectangular thing?"

"For your information, this is my personal custom-made tablet. I'm currently calculating the amount of brain cells you lost since we last met." Megane snidely shot back and readjusted his glasses, again. Back in their academy days, he was the kid that played video games constantly. Every single day, he pushed buttons on some handheld device for the entirety of class, obviously irritating their teacher and destroying his eyes. He was also one of those few guys that didn't crush on Sanae; probably because he loves video games more. He was a thin kid that seemed to have never done a push-up in his life. He wore glasses over his piercing dark blue eyes and had smooth and sleek short black hair. He wore fingerless gloves with a simple white and blue shirt and dark blue shorts. He wore his forehead protector on his forehead like any other kid, making him look even nerdier. Ryuu just thought this boy was in the wrong profession.

"At least I'm more active than you, weakling." Ryuu taunted, pissing off not Megane, but Kenji…

"Try saying that again. I'll beat you to a pulp." Kenji growled as he lifted his rival up by the scarf.

"Enough. There's no need to pick a fight." Shun crossly said.

"Kenji. Shun is right. Get your hands off of him now!" Sanae quickly followed after his words.

Kenji was already posed to punch the boat lights off this punk in his grasp. But after hearing Shun and Sanae telling him to quit it, he was fueled even more to, at least, leave a mark. But, when he glanced around at his surroundings, his eyes connected with the green orbs that belonged to Kinako. She was merely looking on at the situation, looking a little curious and intrigued as her wide eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

At that moment, Kenji scoffed and dropped Ryuu. "Let's go. Megane. Sanae nee-san. We'll see them later at the Chunin Exams anyways."

As Kenji passed by their rivals, he shot a look at Kinako, who also caught and held his quick glance. But, in the background, Shun glared at the pair, mainly Kenji. He struggled to stay quiet, even biting his own lips, as he closely watched their held gazes. He knew Kinako was probably gathering data for later or she thought this ordeal was innocent, but Kenji's gaze was different entirely! For Shun, he wanted nothing more than to immediately pull Kinako away from Kenji.

"Wait! Chunin Exams?" Ryuu quickly scrambled back to his feet.

"Yes. Chunin Exams. They occur twice per year and this year, Konoha is hosting the event." Sanae replied. "Didn't your sensei sign you up?"

"No. No he did not." Shun replied while still keeping an eye on Kenji.

"But we do know he is on the planning committee every year till now." Kinako piped in.

Megane reported, "The Chunin Exams is an exam taken twice per year by prospective genins. The first section is a written test, the second section is a survival test, and the third section is tournament style one-on-one fighting. Each exam, only a few become chunins and it is rare for more than five genins to become chunins. The only exception to this trend was around seven years ago where all the genins that made it by the third test became chunins. I believe our sensei, Chouji, was part of that impressive generation of exceptional ninjas. How about you? Who's your sensei?"

"Shikamaru-sensei. He became a chunin the year before and he's in the same team as Chouji-sensei." Kinako brightly responded.

"Ah touché." Megane acknowledged her cleverness with a push of his glasses.

Sanae warmly smiled, bringing hearts to Ryuu. "Well there you have it. Chouji- sensei recommended us to take the Chunin Exams so you'll need to ask your sensei to recommend you. I hope you guys can participate this year!" She shot a flirty wink at Shun, who reasonably ignored her.

"We'll see you there and demolish you there!" Kenji proclaimed and began to walk away.

"Bye Shun, Kinako, and Ryuu!" Sanae waved, but Kenji yanked her along to make her stop.

When the three genins had walked away, Ryuu excitedly turned back to his group members. "We are so taking it!"

_OoOoO  
><em>  
>Two jounin ninjas sat in their respective booth in a barbecue restaurant. This particular booth was their sitting arrangement for many years. It was the best place to have delicious barbecue meat. It had a great window view. The heater and air conditioning was positioned in the right places for maximum comfort. The only available source of wafting, scrumptious smells was form the food they were served, thus eliminating the torturous food smell that constantly taunted people before their food arrived.<p>

"So Shikamaru," Chouji started whilst shoving pieces of barbecued meat into his mouth. "What was up with you and the Hokage today? You seemed so determined to get something."

"One of my students claimed his clan's techniques are in there and he's not going to shut up about it until I get it for him." Shikamaru groaned. He decided not to eat just because his stomach was still feeling queasy. After that altercation with the Hokage, he only wanted to gulp down a drink! Or two… Unfortunately, he was paying half the price of their meal and Chouji was gobbling up his portion.

"I think he should learn his clan's techniques. It's his family blood. He has every right to." Chouji pointed out. "What is his clan by the way?"

"Yuki clan, I think. Honestly, I thought they died out many years ago after the Country of Water went crazy and decided to kill off ninjas with kekkei genkai."

"Yuki clan. Yuki. Yuki." Chouji was thinking as he ate more meat to fuel himself. "Ah! I heard Naruto once ran into someone from that clan. He kept going on and on and on about facing this guy who almost killed Sasuke. You should ask him! But I think he's on a mission right now with Sasuke so you should ask him when he comes back."

"Maybe..."

"Anyways, who is this kid?"

"Ryuu Mizuno."

"Ah! He's the kid who immigrated here from the Country of Water. Now that makes complete sense." Chouji replied. "I heard he's the hyperactive one, even more so than Naruto ever was. Has he annoyed you about the Chunin Exams yet?"

"Not yet." Shikamaru sighed in defeat. "But I imagine he will. And Shun and Kinako will follow along. And I'm going to have to say "yes" just so I can get them to shut up about it. How troublesome."

"Are you sure your kids are ready for this exam? Or are you just doing this to get them out of your hair?" Chouji suspiciously asked. "My kids, Kenji, Sanae, and Megane, are ready because I trained them into honing their skills and working as a team."

"How are your kids? Really?"

"They're fine and ready to battle!" Chouji announced, capturing nearly everybody's attention to his embarrassment. "Sanae Amanashi, for example, her family specializes in genjutsu. Her illusions are so real that even Kenji, our toughest guy, gets scared! He almost had a breakdown once! Sanae had to go back into being a big sister for a while to calm him."

Big sister? Shikamaru didn't remember if there were any siblings in this year's graduates. "Are they related?"

Chouji shook his head. "No. Sanae Amanashi. Kenji Ootashin. Their family names are not even the same! They've just known each other ever since they were little kids." His thoughts flew towards the yakuza-looking teen in his group. "Speaking of Kenji… Wow! You remember his stats in class?"

Shikamaru recounted, "He got a perfect ten on taijutsu, a nine on ninjutsu, and a five on genjutsu. His intelligence is above average. He holds the fifteenth rank in the class, mainly because he does not participate in class and he does not work well in groups. When he first came to the Academy, he caused a lot of trouble by beating up and taunting kids." The jounin teacher scowled more as he remembered more information about the kid. "I remember not taking this guy at all during our jounin meeting. He seemed the most troublesome."

Chouji scoffed at Shikamaru's dismissal. "With my teachings under Sanae's watch, we beat all the 'troublesome' out of him! He can shatter rocks like Sakura-san and run just as fast as Lee! He is definitely the most athletic out of the class. And his ninjutsu is not that bad either! I think he levels out to the skills your kid, Shun Tetsuya."

"So you got two able kids that cover all the basic ninja techniques," Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "You still got the gaming nerd."

"Oh him…" Chouji sheepishly laughed and rubbed his head. "I've actually used that habit to my advantage. I made him play strategy games on his free time. And I made Sanae and Kenji train him like crazy while I held his game hostage. Kid gets desperate when he wants his games. His ninjutsu style is so unique for the technology we have." Chouji laughed, holding his large pot-belly stomach in the process. "With that force training, they grew so close to each other. Their teamwork turned out to be really amazing!" Chouji suddenly stopped laughing. "By the way, don't you have nearly the same make-up of Naruto's team? You got the top of the class, the bottom of the class, and the dead middle in your team. How's that going to work out?"

When Shikamaru heard that remark, he took the time to think about his team for a minute. They were all getting along just fine. Shun and Ryuu still try to kill each other at every chance, but it's been occurring less often. Ryuu no longer hated Kinako and Shun's been trying to help her a lot with her deprived ninja skills. In regards with teamwork…it's still a bit messy…actually, really messy. Their roles were too separate that if one person went missing, the whole team will fall apart. For example, Kinako was assigned in espionage or reconnaissance, Shun came up with the plans and tracked down the opponents, and Ryuu and Shun did most of the fighting. Occasionally, Kinako said her input into the plans. They were _too_ separate. United, they stand. Apart, they fall. Even after their big mission and the subsequent missions after that, this flaw was very apparent in the team. Plus, the team was still a bit dysfunctional, meaning that one small thing could blow up unexpectedly and destroy the team.

And individually, each student was still a mess. Ryuu excelled enormously in honing his talent in water and wind techniques. But he was hindered from learning more because he couldn't access a scroll of his clan techniques. Shun did well in expanding his tracking range, travelling far distances just by disappearing and reappearing, and making objects disappear in thin air. But how could he use those techniques to attack an enemy? And Kinako was the most troublesome. She still had no good trademark! She could read people's faces and analyze them very accurately to the last hair. But what good will that do her if she can't utilize it in battle? And what can she physically do besides precise chakra control and wires?

They had serious work to do.

"My kids will do fine. They just need to work for it." Shikamaru remarked after all that thinking.

Chouji munched and munched on the tender meat. "If you say so Shikamaru." As Chouji continued their meal, he momentarily looked outside the window. He would usually do this once or twice while Shikamaru stared at the food or chatted with Ino. But when Chouji snuck a peek, he spotted a familiar blonde four pig-tailed woman walk by their restaurant and she approached a tea shop. "Hey! Isn't that Temari?"

"So it is." Shikamaru confirmed when he caught sight of her from the corner of his eye.

"Ah. I remember when I used to call her my sister-in-law." Chouji snickered at his best friend's irritated groan and glare. "So…have things patched up between you two or are you still rocky?"

"Rocky."

Chouji scoffed, "I figured. You're too lazy to even make it past the gate."

"Look. That woman has an _iron _fan, capable of causing severe concussions if necessary. When she's mad, she can do whatever the hell she wants. She doesn't give a shit!" Shikamaru insisted, "And it's not my fault that woman held a grudge for three years."

"So you were scared of confronting her?" Chouji literally wanted to crack up laughing his ass off. "I get where she's coming from! After that fiasco at the Chunin Exams, I'd imagine she wanted to beat your head inside out!"

"Oh shut up!" Shikamaru grumbled, "Like I said before, everything just flew out of my control! Besides, it was her troublesome student that made me do this!"

"Hey! If I remember correctly, the Kazekage attended this exam. And this was during the time where Temari's first and _only_ ninja students took the exam." Chouji accusingly pointed his chopsticks at his best friend. "You. Got. Lucky. Gaara would have sand-coffin'd your remains once Temari was done with you."

Shikamaru's expression suddenly grew dark. He reached out towards Chouji with his hands and formed a little claw with his thumb and pointer finger. "I am this close to leaving you here to pay the bill."

"Hey! Hey!" Chouji playfully pushed his hand away. "Lighten up. It happened three years ago! Don't you think it's time to talk with her and try to resolve loose ends?"

"Chouji…"

"Yeah?"

"I hate you so much right now."

Chouji smirked and pointed out their window. "Hey! She's coming out of the tea house! Pay and go talk to her right now. You'll never get another chance like this."

Shikamaru glared at his friend, cursed intensively under his breath, fished out any bills in his pocket, and slammed said bills onto the table. The slam was so affecting that empty cups and bowls rattled against the force. He quickly got up, shoved both hands into his pockets, and walked out the barbecue restaurant, mumbling stuff like, "Troublesome. Troublesome. Troublesome. Troublesome woman. Troublesome and shitty friend. Troublesome life!"

Chouji merely watched his friend exit the restaurant with a cheeky grin on his face. He knew Shikamaru the longest out of anyone (besides his parents). He knew when Shikamaru had the desire to do something. For three years, he sensed that his best friend wanted to amend everything that happened on that fateful day. He sensed that Shikamaru wanted to desperately find Temari and apologize for everything that had happened to her…that he didn't mean to humiliate her…that he wanted only for the best and didn't mean to hurt her.

Chouji also smirked when he spotted the bills. It seems like his best friend miscounted the amount. "Waiter!" Chouji loudly called. "Another plate of beef please!"

Unbeknownst to him, he did not notice the shadow of the restaurant warp and suddenly shoot out at a female's feet. The girl was shocked, naturally, but she quickly maintained composure enough to force her way around.

"Crybaby!" Temari yelled, wanting oh-so-much to put him out…permanently. "Undo this shit right now!"

Shikamaru's cool voice replied back, "If I undo the jutsu, you'll beat the crap out of me and walk away."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do!"

"That's why I'm not letting this shadow loose."

Temari gritted her teeth in frustration, "I have no time to be playing games! Especially with you!"

"We need to talk." Shikamaru forced her to walk towards him. Visibly, as he got closer, he noticed a change in her attitude. As he got closer, she grew much more nervous and anxious. Her face began to grow red, much to her hatred.

"Di-Didn't I tell you I'm not going to talk to you after the mission?" She fumbled, looking away from him now.

"Troublesome woman…" Shikamaru grumbled, rubbing the back of his head and inevitably, made Temari do the same thing. "After I say the things I need to say, I won't talk to you."

She seemed to have calmed down significantly once he said that. Her shoulders relaxed and her breathing slowed down by a lot. She allowed him to walk closer to her, even though she felt her air supply was slowly being cut off.

Shikamaru sighed, "Temari…what happened that day, I meant for _that_ to happen to your student. He had it coming and you know it. But I _never_ meant for anything to happen to you. Just know that."

He immediately released his shadow technique, granting back her free will. He merely approached her, only to walk right by the shell-shocked woman. But, as he passed by her, she heard a small whisper so unlike the Shikamaru she knew.

"I missed you…Temari…"

Temari quickly turned back, but she missed him completely. He had already run off somewhere, leaving her standing there in the middle of the street. She sighed and began her trek back to her room. "Shikamaru…idiot…"

* * *

><p><em>Temari meets Shikamaru again. Chouji and Shikamaru talk about their teams. Chunin Exams are coming up. What's going to happen to the teams? New characters are introduced! How do you like Chouji's team? Review!<em>


	8. Training

_Here is the training montage before the actual exam. You get to see a little behind the scenes with each student and see their improvement. Also, another canon character has arrived at the end of the episode! You have to read towards the end to see who comes back!_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eight: Training <strong>

Shikamaru paced back and forth in front of his students, who were steadily growing impatient. He was supposed to be recommending them for the Chunin Exams, except he was taking his sweet time. Ryuu sat cross-legged and he shook one leg while leaning against his hand. He had this noticeable frown on his face as he angrily glared at his sensei. Shun was obviously pissed too…he was just showing it through a scowl. Even Kinako, the sweetest person in their team, was showing some sort of disapproval. She did not smile nor frown. She merely shook her head.

Finally, Shikamaru sighed, "I'll recommend you for the Chunin Exams."

Shun felt his eyebrow tick a little in annoyance. "It took you an hour to come to that conclusion."

"I was thinking of a training plan." Shikamaru smartly remarked back at his smartass student. "I may be recommending you now, but if you don't train diligently. You will fail."

"Hey! All of us are going to train like crazy!" Ryuu excitedly insisted. "And have you seen our teamwork? We'll give every team out there a run for their money!"

Shikamaru felt his eyebrow tick and the urge to whack the two boys on their heads. Hard. He hated this behavior. They were getting cocky…too cocky. He really wanted to knock both of them off their high horses. "Do you want my honest opinion about you guys?"

"Yeah!" Both boys chimed.

"You guys will most definitely, inevitably _fail_."

And there was silence.

Shun seemed to have a small sliver of emotion pass through him. Most of that emotion likely being shock. Kinako looked no different. She looked like she was ready to cry. But Ryuu was the most surprised out of the three. Traumatized. Shaken. As if this was the first time his ego had taken a hit.

Ryuu stammered, "Wait. You can't be serious…are you?"

"I'm dead serious."

"Shikamaru-sensei…we only got three weeks left before the Chunin Exams." Shun hesitantly pointed out. "Do you think we can train enough to complete the exam?"

"It is possible." Shikamaru lazily confirmed, but an evil smirk suddenly appeared. "Your training is just going to be hell."

All three of them gulped.

"For example," Shikamaru pointed at Ryuu, "I want you to start working on your kekkei genkai. Try to get that ice chakra flowing."

Ryuu began to protest. "But I don't-"

"It doesn't matter whether you have the scroll or not. Right now, concentrate on controlling your chakra, which you still lack in. And while you're at it, try to learn some defensive jutsu." Shikamaru's piercing gaze switched to Shun. "You, you're the opposite. Learn some offensive jutsu. You tend to evade, wait, and then strike at the precise time, I understand that. You're a tactical fighter. But that only works in a team. You'll need something to hold yourself against an opponent when you're fighting one on one. Your family should have some offensive jutsu in their records. Go look into it."

"Yes sensei." Shun bowed his head slightly before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Ryuu felt a chill run through his back, a knowing feeling that his teacher's attention was on him. Sheepishly scratching the back of his head, he quickly bowed as well. "I'll get started right away sensei!"

"Right. I'll talk with Tsunade tomorrow. If I'm lucky, I can get you at least one technique out of that scroll." Shikamaru answered.

Ryuu nodded and quickly jumped up, disappearing in the trees above. Knowing Ryuu, he probably wanted to find a spacious field or a wide river to practice in. Or both. In his mind, he probably thought to use a natural combination of his elemental chakra in hopes of creating ice. It was not a bad plan…just it was not likely to work. But he'll figure something out.

Now…for the last one… He turned his attention to the chestnut pigtailed girl meekly sitting at his feet. Shun and Ryuu were easy because they're boys, had skills, and were eager to learn. But this girl…where should he start?

"The other ninjas you took out during the C-rank mission. How did you do it?" Shikamaru started off.

Kinako stood up and pulled a spool of wire from a pocket of her black belt. "I used this."

Shikamaru felt like face planting into the ground. Really? Did she just tie up those high-leveled ninjas using a spool of wire? Impossible! "Then, demonstrate for me."

"Um...okay…" Kinako began to unwind the wire until a sufficient amount wrapped around her other hand. "First, I take it out like this. And then, I pour my own chakra into it like I do with my usual sewing. Sometimes the thread breaks or it's a pain to get into the needle, so I use my chakra to manipulate it and make it stronger. But when I do the same to the wire, it gets sharper and can cut through things easily." She swung the strengthened wire at a nearby tree, making a noticeable white scratch into the trunk bark. "Kind of like that."

"Pretty good." Shikamaru admired the fine lashes on the trunk. They should at least be an inch thick. "What's your elemental chakra?"

"Wind. Why?" Kinako tilted her head.

Shikamaru led her away. "Let me introduce you to Tenten. She's one of the best weapons specialists there is. And I think she still has the material for your elemental chakra."

_OoOoO_

Temari silently watched as the two boys fought their pants off. So it seemed that Shikamaru was going to enter them into the Chunin Exams. They were the new rookies for everyone to pick on. Would it end up like her first Chunin Exam where all the rookies made it to the third round? The wind kunoichi silently watched as Ryuu launched ice after ice of attacks and Shun evaded each with ease. Even when Shun was slightly scratched, the wound healed almost instantaneously. It seems that boy managed to figure out the tricks for transporting a small wound. The boys relentlessly went after each other, pulling out all their fruits of training.

Till they were both down onto their knees was when Temari decided to drop in. "Mind if I interrupt?" She said as she approached them.

Both of them perked up. "Temari-sensei!"

She chuckled. "You seem to be training hard."

"Yes! We're getting ready for the Chunin Exams!" Ryuu exclaimed.

"You're going to need to sharpen your skills." Temari instructed. "Ryuu, you need to learn an actual technique than just throwing ice around."

"Shikamaru-sensei only got back one technique for me to use." Ryuu sulked.

"If you have one technique down, it's easy to make up variations." Temari crossly said before turning to Shun. "And you, don't you have any frontal attacks?"

Shun eyed his best friend in thought. "It depends on whether I feel like dismembering his limbs into a different dimension."

Ryuu gasped, "You wouldn't!"

Temari thought for a moment on this guy. On second thought, this guy was doing well. From what she could tell, he had something up his sleeve. But he was merely keeping it concealed for some odd reason. But still, it would be better for him to have some sort of offensive attack. Temari fished through her kimono and took out a piece of paper. She placed the paper on Shun's hand. "Pour a little bit of your chakra into this piece of paper."

Shun examined the thin sheet of paper. "Why?"

Temari took out another paper similar to his and she held it out for Shun to see. The paper was normal at first. But when she poured a tiny increment of her chakra into it, the paper suddenly had one cut at one end. The cut traveled right across the sheet, easily splitting the piece of paper in half. "This paper is chakra sensitive. It's used to detect what kind of elemental chakra you have. In my case, because my elemental chakra is wind, the paper splits. But if Ryuu took this test, his paper would probably split, get soaked, or maybe crystallize into ice. That depends on which chakra he decides to release."

"So I just need to put in a little chakra." Shun concentrated on the leaf-like paper and pulled a small amount of chakra up into his arm. Soon, he felt a warm sense shoot into his hand and instantaneously, the paper shriveled up.

"You're a Lightning Release user." Temari remarked and when she looked closer at this boy, she also noticed something peculiar. "You know...you remind me of this boy I used to know. Good thing Naruto knocked some sense back into him."

"Naruto? Naruto Uzumaki? Konoha's hero!" Ryuu suddenly grew excited. "You knew him!? That's awesome! He's my idol of all idols!"

"Yeah. And your sensei was in his graduating class." Temari rolled her eyes. "What do they teach you at the Ninja Academy these days? Whoever teaches history is crap!"

"I know!" Ryuu insisted, only for Shun to harshly nudge him in the arm.

"Anyways, I have to finish preparations. Chunin Exams are in a week, so train hard with your skills and mind." Temari stood up, brushed her short kimono, and began to walk back.

"Our minds?" Ryuu and Shun looked at each other, both equally confused.

Temari explained, "Training your skills is only half the battle. Your minds keep you from falling over the edge and doing crazy stuff. And I warn you, even when your mind tricks you, don't cheat! Cheating is especially forbidden after the first round."

"Huh?"

She suddenly paused in horror. "I said too much." She finally disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Good luck boys."

"Hey Shun! Do you know what she meant?"

"No clue."

"Shun-kun! Ryuu-kun!" Their only female teammate ran up to them. "Are you done training? Shikamaru-sensei wants to take us out to eat!"

"Kina-chan! Where have you been for a whole week?" Ryuu waved to her.

"Training with Tenten-sensei and Shikamaru-sensei!"

"That's gre-Hey! Why do you get to train with Shikamaru-sensei?" Ryuu narrowed his eyes at her.

Kinako stopped. She sheepishly glanced down to the ground and dug into the dirt with her toes as if she was caught doing something wrong. "Um...he wants to help me?"

"Do you know how hard it was for me to train!? I didn't even know what the hell I was doing! All Shikamaru-sensei ever gave me was one stinking jutsu!"

Shun nodded in agreement. As much as he respected Shikamaru, he didn't like it when people played favorites.

"Oh come on! Stop throwing a fit!" Kinako pushed Ryuu. "He's probably apologizing through food! I'm starving! Let's go eat!"

They ended up at a nice barbecue place. Ryuu ordered as much meat as he possibly could while Shun was chewing on his fish and salad. Kinako was cooking, though her meat was repeatedly sniped by Ryuu, and she got Shun to yell at him for it.

"Team Five." Shikamaru suddenly announced to stop any oncoming fight. "I can't say how proud I am for you guys..."

Their eyes swelled up! Was he going to congratulate them? Finally, their first genuine praise from their teacher was coming!

"...because I'm not-"

"Hey! If you're not going to praise us then don't bother starting!" Ryuu snapped and swiped another piece of beef.

"For heaven's sake! Stop stealing my food!" Kinako held up her iron spatula, ready to brand his face.

"You didn't let me finish." That quieted them down. "Troublesome kids. We still have a whole weeks training left before the exam starts. All of you are going to go through intense training through me this entire week."

Ryuu wanted to shit and wet his pants. Kinako gulped and she hid behind Shun. Shun tried to keep his composure together by drinking water, but his hands were shaking...badly.

"Why are you so scared? I won't go that hard."

_OoOoO_

A whole week later, three young students trekked their way to the main building where the Chunin Exams were going to be held. All three looked like they haven't slept for days. Shun looked like he had trouble getting his bandages on since one seemed to be trailing like toilet paper under a shoe. Kinako had her belt on backwards. Ryuu was being piggybacked by Shun since he collapsed halfway there.

"I'd rather have Tenten-sensei do her Twin Rising Dragon jutsu ten times on me than go through that!" Kinako groaned.

"I couldn't move this morning. I almost forgot my special kunai knives." Shun glared at his buddy. "And this idiot here forgot to put on underwear!"

"To think for the first two days, we were fighting his substitute! He said he was going to go easy!" Kinako huffed. "I was this close to decapitating him!"

"Quiet down! Or he'll shadow strangle you like he did to this guy." Shun pointed at his unconscious friend. The shadow marks were still on his neck and arms.

Kinako intently gazed at him. "You're in a worse position than me! You almost sent his hands into a different dimension!"

"Hey! I had to do something to make him stop. And the technique still flunked anyways!" Shun groaned as they approached their teacher.

"Morning." Their teacher waited for them at the front gates.

"Morning Shikamaru-sensei!" Kinako and Shun chimed.

Shun quickly dropped Ryuu, who was now hugging a nearby piece of paper. "Oh Sanae! Why didn't you say so? You know I always loved-"

"Ryuu. Stop manhandling your registration form."

The sleepy boy jolted awake in frenzy. "What! What! Where are we?"

Shikamaru sighed, "These are your registration forms. You turn them into the registration table and they will give you a number. That will be your seat for the first test."

"Alright!" Ryuu happily jumped. "Thanks a whole lot Shikamaru-sensei! Even if your training was living hell and we almost conspired to kill you, thanks!"

Shikamaru suspiciously eyed both Shun and Kinako, both of whom were looking away very oddly. They were troublesome kids to begin with so he expected this much. But, he had to admit, it was fun knocking them around for a while. It was good payback…very good.

But they used their skills well...and that's what truly matters.

"Troublesome kids." He announced to them, this time for real. "From here on out, you're on your own. I won't see you until your third test. So remember what I taught you and remember all the hard work you put into for this day. And what was the most important thing you learned?"

"A trained mind is better than a trained body." All of them chanted like a chorus.

"Thank you Shikamaru-sensei!" Kinako cheerfully smiled. "Thank you for working hard for us. And for believing in us."

"Yeah! We definitely couldn't do it without you!" Ryuu shot him a thumb up. "For such a lazy teacher, you really got me all riled up!"

"Yeah...thanks." As expected, Shun wasn't a student of many words. Or he was just pissed that Shikamaru pissed off Ryuu badly and Shun had to keep him in line.

"Thus I leave you with this advice: Good luck." Shikamaru disappeared in a huge puff of white smoke.

All of his kids coughed and tried to wave away the dust. Kinako was the first to dust off when she noticed a piece of paper that was in Shikamaru's place.

"How was that advice?" Ryuu angrily exclaimed. "That's what everyone says!"

"He dropped this." Kinako showed her two boys the paper. It had words written in clean black ink that read:

_Ryuu Mizuno: Don't fuck up the first test. I know you will!_

Shun Tetsuya: You've grown stronger. Keep your team together because I have determined you to be the group leader for the second test. Protect and lead your teammates well. You have already done so during your training. Don't ever lose sight of your duties as a leader.

Kinako Keiganu: Do your best. Don't think of yourself as the team's weakest link. You have already proven yourself to be a formidable opponent when you are the most alert. You are the team's best eyes. Don't ever forget that. And also, please try to prevent Shun and Ryuu from killing each other. You're literally the only mature one in this troublesome trio!

Ryuu angrily huffed and puffed and stomped into the Exam building. "Shikamaru-sensei is playing favorites I see! I'll show him! That crappy teacher!"

Shun sweat-dropped for a second and quickly followed his friend. Of course Shikamaru wouldn't say much to Ryuu, not saying anything will only motivate the kid to do better. His sensei was a crafty one...even when he was too lazy to say it out loud. Shun glanced back as little Kinako was trying to keep up with them. Even when she was the oldest out of the trio, she was inevitably the shortest...and the slowest. Out of them all, Shikamaru definitely spent most of his time with her. Maybe it was because she was the weakest (no offense), or team-wise, she resembled their sensei's position the most: the watchful person that made the first move. "Hurry up Kinako! Ryuu's going to be mad if we're late for registration."

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" She ran up to him and smiled whilst holding his hand. "How about you speed up the trip for the both of us? Maybe we can scare Ryuu-kun too!"

He gulped a little in his throat and complied. She was sometimes as mischievous as Ryuu and Shun. Kinako had her moments. It was admirable for someone with such honest morals. "Hold tight." Shun performed a quick jutsu and let the smoke swallow them whole. Soon, they reappeared right in a small room where there was one person sitting behind a table. The table already contained lots of papers and smaller papers. Shun turned around to hand over his registration, but he froze.

"Well. Well. Well. If it isn't my cute little brother!?" The person behind the table said with a smirk. He had the same shade of hair as Shun, except it was slightly wavy and shiny. He wore his headband on his forehead and he wore a normal Chunin vest. He was a tall teenager with a lean muscular build. He seemed very eager and surprised when he spotted Kinako. "Who do you have with you? Ah! It's the cute bakery girl! How did a cutie like you end up in the same team as my loser brother? What! Wait...why are you holding her waist like that? Is there something I don't know?"

"Shut up for heaven's sake! I was using the Quick Transportation Technique to get here with her!" Shun angrily bellowed.

"From like what? Two feet?"

Shun looked so ready to punch his brother's lights out had it not been for Ryuu coming in.

"I'm here! Oh, you two are here already." Ryuu glanced over Kinako's shoulder. "Hey! What's up Takeru! Long time no see!"

"Yo! I didn't expect you two to end up in the same team. I guess you and the squirt really are inseparable."

"Right... Oh! Where are my manners?" Ryuu pulled Kinako up to the older guy. "This here is Takeru Tetsuya. He's the second son in Shun's family and he's also a well-known prodigy. Some say he's even better than his brother." Ryuu pointed back at Kinako. "This is Kinako Keiganu, baker's daughter. There's nothing much to say about her except she can read your mind!"

Kinako rolled her eyes. Shikamaru actually suggested keeping her face-reading ability under a small lie that she could read minds. It was apparently a good cover to throw opponents off. She didn't see any difference, to be honest.

"Really? What am I thinking?"

"You're thinking of more ways to annoy Shun-kun. Now, you think I look similar to this tea girl you met before coming here and you're contemplating on asking her out." Kinako said in a monotone.

"Wow! She can read my mind!"

"Excuse me? I've met the oldest Tetsuya brother. Is it really true you can beat him?" Kinako asked.

"Nah! I'm a humble man and I know I can't ever beat big old Sojiro." He quickly disappeared from within Shun's reach and appeared right before Kinako. "But what I do have is a great personality." He suggestively said and leaned quite close to the girl, face to face, nose to nose.

"She's five years younger than you! Knock it off!" Shun exclaimed.

Takeru shrugged and messed with his little brother's hair while he was at it. "Don't get your pants in such a tight bunch. I'm just messing with you!" But Takeru leaned down to Shun's ear. "But let's see how she turns out in a few more years."

Shun growled. He swiftly moved his foot and tried to sweep kick his pathetic older brother. Too bad his brother already noticed and he disappeared at a dime's drop. He instantly reappeared behind the table at that moment. "Now, wasn't I supposed to register you three in? Turn in your sheets and I'll give you a number. Ryuu, you're number 178. Pathetic excuse for a brother, you're number 250. Kinako-chan, you're number 20."

"Screw off!" Shun snatched his card as he glared into his brother's eyes. His words were laced with malice and demand.

"Oh I can't wait to see what happens. Especially during the second test...if you make it that far." Takeru said with great pleasure before letting them loose.

Shun was grumbling curses under his breath. He glared back at the room where his brother had been and angrily shook his fist. Finally, he gazed over at Kinako. "Don't you dare fall for him! He's Konoha's lady killer for a reason!"

"Don't worry! He already flirted with me once before." Kinako chuckled. "But the brotherly dynamics here are so funny! I wonder what it's like when all three of you are together!"

"It's a mess. Trust me." Ryuu whispered.

The troublesome trio approached a huge set of doors. These doors were made of iron and large handles were their only way of opening it. Shun and Ryuu grabbed both ends and pulled it open, revealing a room full of many ninjas from many villages. They all curiously gazed at the small rookies, wondering if they had enough skills to handle the pressure. Of course, all eyes went to Kinako as if they already located the weakest link. She automatically cowered from all the attention and shriveled up like a dry leaf behind Shun.

"Ignore them." He said, confidently moving forward.

"That's easier for you to say. You're a Tetsuya! They're scared of you!" Kinako murmured.

They entered what seemed to be a large lecture hall that could hold 300 students. All three of Shikamaru's team was astounded by the sheer size of this room. Lecture desks were lined up, row by row. Multiple chairs lined up against the wall at three quarters of the room, leaving the front blank. A single chalkboard was already scribbled on by a bunch of rowdy genins. But the room was roaming with ninjas that were lounging around. They seemed to have been here for quite a long time. Some genins were sitting on tables. Others were leaned up against a wall. The room felt so...scattered. It was hard to figure out how the seating was even arranged!

Suddenly, a kimono-clad girl sprung up in front of Shun. "Shun-kun! Which seat do you have?" It was Sanae.

"I'm number 250."

"Oh poo! I'm number 194." Sanae pouted.

"Hey! I'm number 178! I guess I'm sitting in front of you!" Ryuu cheerfully said. But he was unsure if Sanae was happy or disappointed.

"Really? That's awesome!" She gleamed, shooting at least five arrows into Ryuu's heart.

Kenji ignored the obvious flirtation of Ryuu towards his pseudo older sister. In fact, he was much more interested in something else. "Kinako-san, which seat are you in?" Kenji interrupted and glanced over at Kinako.

"Number 20." She politely answered. She didn't notice the sudden ire of her friend next to her.

The jock guy frowned and scoffed. He turned away as if that was already the end of this conversation. But Shun was silently glaring at him from far away. The more Kenji talked, the less he liked him. What was his deal? The boy liked to single out Kinako for some reason. Shun didn't like it! He despised it.

Ryuu smirked and nudged his friend suggestively. "I see a little green monster in someone's future!"

Shun glared back and proceeded to kick the idiot's shin. "Only when Hell freezes over!"

Kinako was even the more oblivious as she noticed the last member of the Triple B was alone, messing with his tablet. Feeling a tad sorry for his loneliness, she sat down beside him and curiously peeked over.

"Kinako-san...what are you doing?" Megane politely asked as he didn't even bother to look up and was fully concentrated on his tablet.

"I was a little curious." She explained.

"If you must know, I'm making final preparations for the test."

"It's a written test." Kinako pointed out. "You can't use that...thing."

Megane smirked, "Oh, you'll see!"

Kinako oddly gazed back. He was the weird one, in her opinion. She wondered if he'll marry his electronic contraption in the future. But he was the only oddball. Sanae was a sweet person; she believed...the girl had a clean reputation in class so that must mean something. Kenji was oddly nice to her. She never expected the class jock to be a courteous person. She just wished he would stop beating up Ryuu whenever they met.

"Hey Kinako! Quit hanging around that loser and get back here!" Ryuu called.

Kinako flatly stared back and then face palmed. But sometimes, Ryuu really deserved to be hit. She leapt out of the desk and ran up to her team. "So when is the test going to start?"

"I don't know." Shun shrugged. "But Ryuu here is definitely going to fail."

Ryuu laughed, "Hah! You're laughing now, but you'll be sorry once the test starts and I have it easy! I've cheated my way through the Academy! How is this any different? These people have never met Ryuu Mizuno, the student that honed his skills since first grade! I'm not the master of cheating for nothing!" Ryuu confidently cackled, alerting everybody's attention.

Kinako blushed. "Ryuu-kun...please quiet down!"

But the laughing continued nonetheless...that is...until a large puff of smoke appeared front and center. Nobody predicted it, so the ninjas messing around in the front her great surprised. Ninjas fell back as she smoke cloud got larger and larger. The sandy cloud also drifted back to where Shikamaru's genins were standing. When all the smoke disappeared, they all saw a huge array of adults and a sole figure standing up in the front. He must be the boss. He was tall and lean. His skin was fair, but that contrasted against his cold eyes and frown. This man wore loose pants and the Konoha vest, albeit a more altered version with his clan symbols on both of his shoulders. The symbol was of a fan. He was glaring at everybody in the room as if ready to assert his authority.

Kinako looked around and saw some female genins were swooning at the sight. Was this guy a hottie? She didn't know since Ryuu and Shun shielded her view due to the dust cloud earlier. The chestnut haired girl peered over her friends' shoulders. The man looked like he was in his late twenties. He also had strange hair. It was a deep shade of black with a little blue. It looked smooth in the front and spiked up in the back. He also had this aura of darkness around him as well.

The man barked, "Stop this ruckus and get to your seats!" Everybody immediately complied. Once he knew everyone was seated, the man began once again. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha and I'll be your proctor for this exam."

* * *

><p><em>Bam! Sasuke Uchiha is back people! Let's just say Naruto managed to turn him back to the good side during the War and Sasuke did some huge deed that saved a lot of people's lives. So, he's allowed to continue as a Konoha ninja. (But in canon world, I have this idea that Sasuke is going to die, and if not, wander the earth as an exile.) After what that man's done, I have no clue how Sasuke can even be redeemed to come back to Konoha.<em>

_If you want to know some cheating tactics to use for school, review for the next chapter!_


	9. Cheating Exam One

_So in this chapter, the ninjas teach you that cheating is a-okay! As long as you don't get caught!_

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><p><strong>Chapter Nine: Cheating Exam One<strong>

"This written test is composed of nine questions and one verbal question, of which you will answer at the end of the allotted time. You will have approximately one hour to complete this written test. You pass into the next round if you and your team are able to answer at least one question correctly each. If one member of your team fails, then everybody in the team fails. Also, I need to remind you that cheating is absolutely forbidden. All around the sides of this room, you see examiners stationed. They will monitor your row and they will catch anyone who is cheating. If you are caught cheating, you fail and your teammates fail along with you. Do I make myself clear?" Sasuke explained his rules as he sat on top of his desk. He saw many frightened and shocked faces while some were overly cocky. In response, Sasuke smirked and closed his eyes. "And by the way, because I can...Sharingan!" His eyes quickly opened, revealing a set of red irises with black marks.

Almost instantaneously, everybody cringed and cocky looks faded away. Sasuke could already spot a few nervous wrecks in the lecture room. One person even pulled back her genjutsu, of which he could clearly see. This one was a crafty one. She probably placed everyone in this room under a genjutsu and dispelled it the minute he used his Sharingan. But, by that time, she probably had all the answers. Sasuke glanced at his watch. It was almost three.

"Begin!"

Shun quickly skimmed over the nine questions. There was a large variety of questions such as specific ninja history, math, obscure topics, drawing seals, and much more. Shun read over the questions again; this time, much more in depth. Out of all these questions, the seal was obviously the easiest for him. He was from the Tetsuya Clan! Their entire shtick was seals that related to space-time ninjutsu! And they decided to put a hard one too. He had to draw a certain seal meant to completely store away a set of weapons and have each weapon appear in different rooms through a separate seal. There was a precise amount of inscriptions that had to be in the right place. He had to draw the main seal and then, the supplementary seals. After that, he had to label and explain the different parts of each seal. It was difficult! If he wasn't a Tetsuya clan member, he would have a large difficulty with this question! And this exam too! He couldn't answer all the other questions. One was of a ninja throwing a shuriken at an enemy from a tree and he had to figure out the optimum height, angle of depression, the speed of the shuriken, and also the best situated tree given the time and date. This was difficult! He guessed that most of the people in this room couldn't answer these questions!

And that hit him…like a ton of bricks.

Nobody could answer these questions at all. They were too difficult. He wondered how Ryuu was doing. The boy was situated in the middle of the room while Shun was in the last row. But, in his opinion, Kinako had it the worst. She was in the first row and her seat was right in front of Sasuke. Shun glanced at Ryuu, of whom was fiddling around. Did he succeed?

Ryuu nervously fumbled with his pencil and paper. Damn it! Now that the proctor turned on his Sharingan, Plans A and D was now a bust! Whatever! Who cares! He still had fifty more to go! Ryuu secretly took his pencil and dropped it on the floor. This plan was the oldest trick in his book. Find a way to travel around the room and peek at students' answers. It was brilliant! Brilliant! "Excuse me! I dropped my pencil. Can I go pick it up?" Ryuu called.

Shun wanted to hit his desk with his head. That idiot! Was he trying to get caught?

Sasuke glared at Ryuu and he hastily chucked a kunai knife with at least ten pencils tied to it. "There's your pencil. Keep working!" Sasuke barked.

The kunai knife almost landed on Ryuu's hand, giving him such a fright! But now, he couldn't execute Plan Z! Crap! This was harder than he thought!

On the other hand, Shun was getting started to work on the seal problem. He already ensured his pass since he needed to only get one question correct. But, as soon as he started, Shun felt something had whizzed by his eye. He turned left a little and spotted a measly fly drifting around the room. This fly was weird though. It didn't fly around in circles and then, randomly to a location. It seemed to head over to a certain location and hover over a student, like a recon eagle. Somebody was cheating! And he had a good idea who!

Since Shun was in the back, he saw everybody. Megane was close to him. Shun saw that the nerd had reprogrammed his glasses to show what the fly was seeing. And he just had to copy everything into his piece of paper.

Shun turned his eyes to where Sanae was sitting. Instead of keeping everything secretive, she was very blatant. She was obvious. She literally stood up and peeked at the students around her. Nobody called her out for it. But that was because nobody could call her out. She probably placed an illusion on the people near her that she was still working. Only Sasuke's Sharingan could see through her illusions and she merely turned it off once she was in his line of sight. So she was cheating as well!

Shun actively scanned the room until he could find his rival, Kenji. He had his forehead protector tied onto his arm similar to Shikamaru. And knowing what Kenji could do, that guy was probably bending light from whatever his forehead protector reflected into his eyes. He was cheating as well.

Why was all three of Trible B cheating?

The answer dawned upon Shun. Of course! No wonder they placed so much emphasis on cheating! They wanted people to cheat! Shun looked over at his teammates. Ryuu may have not figured this out, but he was still bent on cheating. Kinako could have figured it out, but what was she going to do?

Soon, random people were called out of the room. At least two thirds of the previous occupants were left.

Sasuke chucked his shuriken at another cheater he caught. "You fail! Get out of this room!" He called and the boy silently left. This guy didn't even try to hide his cheating! He was doing the old chakra expansion trick. Even in real life, it wouldn't work!

Sasuke soon spotted a thin line of chakra that went from the girl sitting in the front and was connected to the pencil of another student. So every time that student wrote something, the pencil of this girl would write the same thing. Smart. Except she miscalculated. He has the Sharingan!

Sasuke loomed over the pigtailed girl, about to call her out for cheating. She noticed his presence and turned her paper around. Neatly, in one of the boxes, she wrote, not an answer, but a message:

_If you fail me and any of my teammates, I will tell your wife that you...  
><em>  
>Sasuke froze. His breath turned cold, a rarity of an Uchiha. How did she know that? And by the false polite smile on her face, he could figure out her hidden malice.<p>

The young girl pouted and wrote down another message:

_I'm serious._

She wasn't joking. And so, he smartly backed off.

And Kinako got right back to cheating again. It was a good thing she got a good look at his face before starting this test. Hopefully, her teammates realized they were supposed to cheat like she did at the very beginning.

Ryuu wanted to slap himself in the head...a lot! He was at his wits end! He wanted to try manipulating the wind to blow a few papers in the air, but Sasuke's Sharingan kept catching him just as he was starting. He wanted to cheat by looking at the papers in front of him, but Sasuke just called out someone for doing the same thing. He even tried flipping a coin in the air and reading the reflections, but it made such an embarrassing noise! What was he going to do? He was totally fucked! He couldn't cheat! He had no idea how to answer these questions. And sooner or later, the cold hearted proctor was going to call him out! Why was everybody in the world against him?

"Ryuu-kun," a whisper was heard at his left ear, "Are you okay?"

"Sanae! What are you doing? They'll catch you!" Ryuu harshly whispered back.

The girl shook her head. "No. I placed a genjutsu on everyone around us. They think we're still working on the test. Why aren't you doing your test?"

His shoulders shrugged down in disappointment. "I just don't get this test. And I can't find a way to do my usual thing."

Sanae was quiet for a moment since she was brainstorming along with him. Then, she snapped her fingers as if she had a brilliant idea. "I know! Ryuu, do you hear the rain?"

"Yeah..." Ryuu nonchalantly glanced out a nearby window. The rain drops made popping noises against the glass, the only sounds of this room. Suddenly, Ryuu snapped his fingers. "I got it! Thanks Sanae! I owe you."

She nodded and returned to her work.

Meanwhile, Ryuu madly cackled and snicker as he stuck his hands under the table and performed a few hand signs. A little wind couldn't hurt anybody. Once he was done, a window near him flew open from the wind and drops of rain flooded the room. Like Ryuu wanted, the papers in that area floated up, allowing him to sneak peeks at the writing...except...it was too small! Damn it! Why can't people write larger so it's easier for him to cheat?

"Close that window!" Sasuke barked and glared at the poor students in that vicinity. "And all of you fail!"

"What! That's not fair! We didn't do that!" One mad student yelled. He was from the Mist.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, not planning to answer. He waved his hands nonchalantly, ordering for that student and his team to leave. When that was done and over with, Sasuke scanned at the rest of his test takers. With those people gone, he narrowed everyone down by a third. It was good enough. "Everyone put down your pencils. The written portion of this test is over!"

What! Ryuu slammed his head on the table and covered his head frantically with his arms. He didn't even get to write down any answers! He was doomed! Doomed!

Shun silently observed from the back. It looks like Ryuu didn't get a single answer down. He still had the tenth question left.

"Before I issue the tenth question, I will give you one last chance to withdraw."

"What? We just sat through an hour test and you want us to quit!" Ryuu angrily yelled.

Soon, an activated Sharingan was burning holes into the boy's eyes.

"Because, if you decline to take the tenth question, you can have another chance to take this exam next year. However, if you accept and you get the question wrong, you can't ever take this exam _ever again_. You'll remain a genin. Forever. Your choice."

The quiet, meek girl with pigtails was scoffing. He ignored her.

Shun face palmed. Can Ryuu ever shut up?

Ryuu gulped and sat back down. "I'll take it."

Seeing that no other students were falling for it, Sasuke sighed and began, "The question is...do you want to pass this test?"

"...yes..."

"Good job. You pass."

"What!" Ryuu jumped out of his seat again. "That was it?! That's the tenth question!?"

The tall ninja shrugged, "Yeah. Pretty much."

"But that's too easy!"

"That's the point." Sasuke finally turned off his Sharingan. "Originally, there wasn't supposed to be a tenth question or the use of my Sharingan, but I changed it since I get to proctor this year. Choosing to answer the tenth question was technically your question. That's to show that you had the courage to take risks."

"Then what was this whole test for?" Kenji asked as he showed his completed paper.

"That was to show your skills in gathering information discreetly. Such skills are much needed when infiltrating the enemy. This test was designed to eliminate all the weak cheaters and the people who sacrificed their papers. Any information must be kept a secret. In order to make this possible; we planted two disguised chunins in the room who already knew the answers. They were your main source to find the answers. The people around the side of the room were supposed to catch all the cheaters they spotted. Those were the weak cheaters. The good cheaters were the one that required me to use my Sharingan to catch them. So I can tell you, 98% percent of the people here cheated and I caught them all with my Sharingan." Sasuke explained and smirked. "But I'm surprised you never caved in."

"That's because you suck at intimidation!" One punk cackled, but he soon quieted down when he felt a cold blade against his neck.

Sasuke had instantly appeared right behind the boy, drew out the sword, and looked ready to make the slash. He let the blade drag a little, making the boy shiver and crumble into a heap. That should teach him. "Actions speak louder than words." Sasuke coolly replied and sheath his small blade.

Shun silently observed from the back. This man was a trained killer.

"You're right. I'm not any good a psychological intimidation through plain speaking, but remember this: I have a Sharingan and there are other ways to make someone spill their secrets." Sasuke explained, "Besides, I'm not even the official proctor to begin with. That guy would have done a better job than me since this was his actual job. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to proctor this year since his students are among the test-takers."

Sasuke made eye-contact with the girl at his front. He had a good idea that she was one of them. Their strategic thinking was similar.

"Wait...so we're all done?" Ryuu was thoroughly confused.

Sasuke sighed, "Yes. You all advance to the second round." That boy reminded him of a certain dobe.

"Sasuke-kun?" Everybody's heads turned to see a pink-haired woman peeking into the room. She was a youthful woman, even in her late twenties, with full lips and dazzling green eyes. Looking at the symbol of her uniform, she was an active medical ninja. She slowly walked in and looked around the room. "Is this everyone?"

"Yeah." Sasuke carefully shifted his eyes to the treacherous girl in the front. The young one smirked once she saw the medical ninja come in. He still ignored her.

Sakura nodded and ushered in the new proctor.

"Hey everybody! Get your gear! We're moving to the next stage of this exam!" A woman's voice boomed into the room, someone Shikamaru's team knew very well.

"Temari-sensei!?" All three of Shikamaru's team exclaimed.

Temari gleamed and slammed her fan into the ground. "My name is Temari of the Sand and I will be your proctor for the second test!"

_OoOoO_

It was only Sasuke and Sakura left in the exam room. Temari had already taken the remaining genins out to the field so she could explain to them on what they were doing. Sasuke had to play janitor and pick up all the remaining papers. For some reason, Sakura wanted to help out.

"Aren't you supposed to be on medical guard right now?" Sasuke asked his wife.

Sakura giggled and replied, "Not right now. How about after the second exam starts where I'm actually needed?"

"Why are you here then?"

"Maybe because I want to help?" Sakura said matter-of-factly. "And I feel a little bad for making you cover for Shikamaru. He couldn't proctor since his kids were here."

Sasuke glanced at the paper at the top of his pile. That one belonged to the pigtailed, chestnut hair girl with wide, green eyes. She managed to read him like a book. And he definitely needed to burn this paper. "I have a feeling I met one of them." Sasuke remarked.

"Which one? The loud one? The prodigy one? Or the girl who can read your mind?"

"The last one."

"Ah! I heard about her! I hear she can read your mind just by looking at you." Sakura said with a grin, but she coyly walked up to Sasuke. "So…what did she see in you…?"

"Nothing!" The Uchiha ninja blushed and turned away.

"Come on! Tell me! I'm your wife!"

"Shut up! You're annoying!"

"Sasuke-kun~"

* * *

><p><em>Next chapter is the "Forest of Death" chapter where you get to see more ShikaTema action. And SasuSaku is now a married couple in my fic! And since two of the main trio showed up, guess who is going to show up next?<em>


	10. Forest of Death! Start!

_This fic is still alive. Now you get to see our heroes beginning the second stage. More characters are introduced. Old characters come back. The implied love line gets even more twisted. Enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten: Forest of Death! Start!<strong>

"Shun-kun! Ryuu-kun! Did you know Temari-sensei was going to be a proctor?" Kinako huddled near her teammates as they continued walking out of their first exam.

Many of the previous proctors were gone. They could only see Temari and a few others waiting in a bunch of tents. One of them was Ryuu's brother, Takeru the player, much to his aggravation. There were some others the genin could recognize. Sakura Uchiha, the second best healer in all of Konoha and the only woman with guts to fall in love and marry a former criminal. Hinata Hyuuga, heiress to the famous Hyuuga clan and rumored girlfriend of Naruto Uzumaki. Her teammates were also there, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. Ino Yamanaka was also present next to Sakura.

"Yo Temari! Did you talk to Shikamaru yet? Choji didn't tell me much." Kiba ran up to her only to have his head smacked in by the kunoichi's fist.

"Are you seriously playing around right now? We're on the job! Get back to your station!"

"Kiba-kun…" Hinata tried to pull him back, but her efforts proved useless.

"Oh! His kids are here!" Kiba sped up to the trio. "So these are the troublesome kids the laze keeps complaining about? He even told me his team was just another version of Naruto's team."

Ryuu stared at this man for a second before the thought finally hit him. "Oh! You're Kiba Inuzuka! You and Akamaru and your pack of dogs wiped out a whole army during the war. I'm such a big fan!"

Shun merely scoffed. Did Ryuu just have an encyclopedia of famous people in the war? He recognized them all…except for Shikamaru, who was the proxy general of the Fourth Division and the chief strategist. Shun did his research on his sensei quite thoroughly. Ryuu must have been focused on the people who actually fought. While Ryuu was busy fawning over his idols, Shun noticed that Kinako had a different reaction. She suddenly turned scarlet red and quietly hid her face.

"Is that Shun Tetsuya?" Kiba waved. "Your brother is here."

Shun flatly replied, "I know."

"Who else is there…? Hey! It's the bakery girl selling the best dango in Konoha. Kinako right? I didn't know you were training to be a ninja." Kiba chuckled and ruffled her chestnut head. "Do your best!"

Kinako looked like she could pass out. But when Kiba leaned to her ear, her whole face turned red and everything grew hot. She could feel his presence cover over her, like a blanket over a child, where she was unable to move. Her palms suddenly grew sweaty and she clutched onto her white dress.

"And if you pass, I get free samples. Okay? Deal?" He winked.

And she died right then and there. "S-sure! Inuzuka-san…" she stammered.

Ryuu smirked. Ha! So Kinako was crushing on an older man! He sometimes found it surprising that Kinako would not recognize or choose to ignore Kenji's obvious crush on her. Or that she never recognized Shun's raging jealousy whenever he saw her with another guy. Kind of like now, where Shun was fuming on the inside when he saw Kiba play around with Kinako. Why his best friend was so protective over this weird girl, he had no idea. Did he also have a crush on her? Impossible. Shun would have done something by now.

"Inuzuka!" Temari barked and this time, she whacked her giant fan over his head. "Keep acting like this and I'll remove you from the committee. Your sister wouldn't like that now, would she?"

"Yeah. Yeah." Kiba stood up and trudged back into his line. "I'm just catching up. I haven't had any of her dango since I've been out on missions a lot. Don't get so riled up, Temari."

"Inuzuka…" Temari growled.

"Kiba", Shino spoke. His voice was laced with mystery as always. "Get back in line or all of us will be punished."

"Kiba-kun! Hurry! We're about to start." Hinata gently pulled him back to his spot and she held onto his arm so he wouldn't act up again.

Ryuu reached over and snapped his fingers. "Hey Kinako-chan! Stop spacing out! We have to group up with the rest of the genin."

And on cue, Shun dragged her away from the proctors and into the new batch of waiting genin.

"One, two, three…twenty one, twenty two…twenty five. Sakura! You sure your husband got rid of a lot of teams?" Temari shouted over to the medic.

"Does it matter? We're going to half the amount anyways." Sakura shrugged. "We raised the stakes this year so it's twice as dangerous."

"Oh well…I guess it can't helped." Temari slowly raised her fan before slamming it onto the ground. The deafening crack was enough to scare all the genins into immediately listening. "Line up by your teams!"

Everyone scrambled.

"Listen up! You're about to begin the second stage of the Chunin Exams: The Forest of Death. This is a ten kilometer enclosure with only 44 gates. Inside, you will encounter deadly poisons, creatures, plants, etc. Most of them are man-eating so don't get eaten. You will have five days and four nights to locate a tower in the center of the forest. But before you reach the tower, you must have both a heaven and earth scroll. Half will be given an earth scroll and the other half will be given a heaven scroll." Temari held up a blue scroll and a green scroll. "If you only have one of the two scrolls, you fail. If another team takes your scroll, you fail. If you don't make it in time, you fail."

So this was a survival test... Shun glanced over Temari to observe the forest. It was dark with looming trees and near dead branches. How perfect for a test. They might as well put in a volcano and stimulation for earthquakes if they wanted to kill the applicants. He and Ryuu used to hang around the wilderness to get away from people, Shun from his annoying brothers and Ryuu from the people in the village. They would stay out for up to three days at most, just chilling and training. It was good practice for this test. He worriedly glanced at Kinako. She was something different. In his youth, he remembered her as a baker who never seemed to exit her store. She might not be as experienced.

"One thing I must stress," Temari continued, "You must **not** open your scrolls until you get to the temple. Any questions?"

Ryuu raised his hand, "So what happens if you open the scrolls?"

Shun face-palled while Kinako shook her head. Obviously, he would ask a dumb question like that.

Temari chuckled, albeit neither a funny or serious one. "You'll find out."

Ryuu gulped and put his hand down.

Takeru finally stepped out of line with a bunch of papers. "This is a waiver form saying that we are not responsible if you get killed. Everyone must sign this form in order to proceed with the exam. Turn this form into the tent over there where you and your team will be handed a scroll." He said and began to pass them out. But when he got to his little brother's team, he played a little keep-away game with Shun, much to the younger brother's contempt.

Shun growled at him and snatched his paper.

Kinako began to scan the first page. It basically listed the rules, what the Konoha Chunin Exam committee was not responsible for, and potential dangers like poisonous insects and plants, falling from trees, and getting killed by other teams. So they were allowed to kill each other...

"Heh. Don't get killed!" She heard a familiar voice mock. Kinako turned around to see Kenji, Sanae, and Megane heading towards them.

Ryuu looked ready to lunge at them while Shun maintained his glaring.

Kinako simply nodded and replied, "Same with you. Please be careful."

Shun noticed Kenji slightly stop a little, like his breath fell short, and the boy gazed at Kinako before looking away. Shun gritted his teeth while his glare intensified. Alright, he decided, that guy and his team will be the first to go down.

"Yo Dead Last!" Ryuu called out to him. "Are you done yet? We got to hand these in."

"Yeah, I'm done." Shun handed over his paper. "What about Kinako?"

"Kina-chan?" Ryuu nonchalantly pointed back. "She's doing some reconnaissance work right now."

"Heaven. Heaven. Earth. Heaven. Earth." She repeated in whispers, like a machine recording data, as her eyes were trained on the line of people.

"Really?" Shun went to her and tapped on her shoulder. "Kinako, did you see what Triple B got?"

"Earth." She confirmed.

Good. Now if they could get a heaven scroll, he knew which team to target first.

It was an earth scroll. Fuck. There goes the plan of knocking down their biggest competitor.

Then, they were led away to their starting point which was around twenty meters away from the main committee area. And of course, much to Shun's dismay, Takeru was the one leading the team to their destination. At one point, the elder Tetsuya pulled his brother away from his team.

"Hey! Why don't you two go ahead? I have some family matters I need to talk with my baby brother."

Shun waited for his teammates to be out of sight before turning to his brother. "What is it? Did Mother or Father have something to tell me? Or does Sojiro want to lecture me again?"

Takeru chuckled, "No! None of that!"

"Then what?" Shun began to grow impatient. "My friends are waiting for me."

"I just want to say: good luck." Takeru smiled and patted his youngest brother on the back. He knelt down and leaned close to Shun's ear. "I'll only tell you this once. Our clan's technique comes as an advantage in this type of test. You are the one who's most likely to survive out of all the candidates. You have to step up as the leader in this exam. Ryuu's a strong kid but he's not exactly leader material and I don't think Kinako can survive in a forest. I don't know why she strives to be a ninja, but this test is way out of her league. So I want you to protect them both, but especially Kinako."

Shun gulped and silently nodded in response. At times like these, his brothers would give him little pieces of advice that have actually helped him. But those were rare.

Takeru grinned and patted his brother on the head. "Good to know you can understand. You see, I too was put in the same position where I had to be the leader and protect my teammates from all harm."

"Your teammates were girls. You'll throw yourself in front of them to impress them obviously." Shun pointed out.

"That's beside the point!" Takeru snapped back. "Anyways, don't die in there!"

"Tch. I won't!" Shun playfully punched his brother in the arm and rushed back towards his teammates.

"The second part of the Chunin Exams starts right now! I wish you all good luck! And don't die!"

The gate that stood between the three genin and the forest began to quiver. Then, all on its own, the gate slowly swung open. Right when a sizable crack formed, Ryuu was the first to bolt right through and jump to the nearest tree branch. The albino kid shouted and cheered as he catapulted from branch to branch. Kinako followed close behind her teammate while Shun hung around the back to keep an eye out for his team.

"Freedom! No more tests! No more tests!" Ryuu was definitely living in the moment. He turned back to Kinako and smirked and cackled, "So what was with that face Kinako!"

"What face?"

"You know, that face where we all can tell you're crushing on Kiba Inuzuka." Ryuu cackled once again when Kinako's face turned bright red.

"Sh-Shut up Ryuu-kun! Geez! He's just…a good man!"

"Hey. I get why you have a crush on him. His tall figure, his rugged good looks, his dog, and most likely, his leather jacket; chicks love the jacket." The albino popped his collar of his…rain jacket.

In response, the pigtailed girl stuck out her tongue and she was ready to strangle him in her wires. "No! He's kind and helpful and good. Akamaru-chan is so cute and playful. There's more than just looks."

"Well I can tell you spent a lot of time with him."

"He's a regular! Just a regular…and he helped me with groceries…sometimes…" Kinako mumbled the last part. "And he's handsome…"

"Ha! I knew it!"

"Guys…are we here to survive in a forest that can kill us or talk about Kinako's love life?" Shun rolled his eyes and suddenly addressed Kinako, "Who do you think would be our best bet of getting a scroll?"

"I don't know. All those teams look so formidable." Kinako quietly said. "Do you know any current locations?"

"I don't sense anyone. Right now, let's head closer to the tower instead of trying to search out teams. If we go closer, we are more likely to bump into teams with both scrolls. But if we get there before any other team, we set up a trap."

"But that's a dirty way to get scrolls." Kinako pointed out.

Ryuu sighed, "Look Kinako, this is a test of survival. We are going to have to play dirty. Right Dead Last?"

"Right!" Shun nodded before addressing his group. "Here's how it's going to work. Kinako will be our eyes. She will determine if an impersonator is in our group and if anyone has our opposite scroll. If we do have to set up a trap, use any wire tricks you have. Ryuu, you pull out all stops in your jutsu. Don't hold back. Get the scroll as fast as you can. I will do the same. Once we get the scroll, immediately regroup around me."

Both nodded in agreement.

"Let's move!"

_OoOoO_

Takeru placed his hands together, formed a seal, and disappeared to his next location. He appeared in the temple, where all the other teachers and committee members have gathered to watch their students' progress. Takeru walked up to his boss and reported, "Temari-san, I have sent Team Five at their starting position."

"Thank you Takeru." Temari dismissed him.

"How do you think my team will do?" Shikamaru questioned as he sat by her.

"They will do fine here. It's the third part I'm worried about..." Temari mumbled before she readjusted herself. "And I'm _specifically_ worried about them, not you. Just so you know, I'm leaving right when this part of the exam finishes."

Shikamaru frowned, "Why?"

"There are just some things I don't want to face..."

"Are you scared of your past?" Shikamaru scoffed. "You're supposed to hold all emotions in and continue with your duty as a ninja. I can't believe the cruelest and most uptight kunoichi I know forgot about her emotional training."

"Look here Crybaby! I'll have you know that I had my situation perfectly under control! You just had to barge in and reveal the problem for everyone to see." Temari sneered back at him while glaring daggers into his eyes.

"He was your student in the third round. He was ready to reveal everything the moment he stepped into that ring." Shikamaru retorted. "Besides, if I didn't take control over that student, the whole world would mistake your entire team and you to be cheaters and murderers."

"It would have been better if you kept this situation under wraps so no one knew. Do you think I can show myself to everyone who shows up in the third round?" Temari crossed her arms and looked away. "How much dignity do you want me to have by the end of this?"

"How troublesome. Then I'll be there with you." Shikamaru nonchalantly proclaimed. "I was the guy who exposed your shady student. They will see me as one of the best proctors here. Surely they can't say anything if I'm with you. Look woman, stop thinking you're alone in this because you're not."

Temari blushed at his sudden statement and she quickly got up from her seat. "I have to go and monitor this." She quickly said and left the room immediately.

Shikamaru merely watched her leave before tiredly leaning back to rest his head. "Troublesome woman." He muttered under his breath as he decided to take this moment to bask in the sunlight.

Temari quickly walked past any ninja in her way, even ignoring the few greeting her. Her mind was filled with him, the man who basically promised to be by her side. Damn him! And she was so prepared to leave as well! Why is it when she wanted to go, he always pulled her back like fish on a rod? Damn him! Because of him, she was never the same as before!

"Hey Temari-sa...not responding I see..." Takeru tried to say, but she passed right by him.

"Save your breath, Tetsuya, she and my mentor have had the hots for each other since their preteens." Another voice remarked as a teenage boy appeared from the shadows. He had piercing red eyes and short dark black hair with a bluish tint. He wore his traditional Konoha flak jacket along with trousers and a white and red flag tied to his waist.

"Kurema, how nice of you to drop by?" Takeru patted one of his longtime friends.

"I'm one of the assistant proctors for the third exam. Of course I must report early." Kurema flatly replied.

Takeru smirked at his dull response. "By the way, you know Temari is back again. Aren't you a little scared seeing how you were the reason for her humiliation three years ago."

"For the record, I was not the reason. I was merely facing her stupid cheating student when the whole thing happened."

"Ah! But you see, you are Shikamaru's personal disciple and we both know he would do anything for you because you are his former sensei's son. That alone basically drove him to actually turn against Temari, thus leading up to the whole incident in the first place. So in conclusion, it is your fault!"

"Takeru...you're a sick bastard." Kurema Sarutobi proclaimed, shoving him.

"Glad to be of service!" Takeru snickered.

Kurema sighed in defeat. "Anyways, isn't your little brother taking the exam. Shouldn't you be watching over him?"

"Hey. I may be his big brother but I don't dote on him." Takeru flatly said. "Now, let's do some catching up! You do way too many missions for your age. It's been a while! You still have a crush on my teammate Saki?"

"Do you still flirt with any female that passes by?"

"Oh you've known me for too long!"

"Unfortunately..."

"Hey! You two! What are you doing?" Sakura called. "Report to your assigned floors right now! We have to scout out the failures soon."

"Got it!" The younger chunins sprinted off up the stairs.

Sakura sighed. Even though those two were the younger chunins, and therefore the most successful of their year, they were still lacking in some fields. Like attention. Right now, it was only Team 8 and Ino left with her. "Hinata, Kiba, Shino; your job is to scout out and locate anyone who may have lost their scroll or injured/disqualified genins. Hinata, you scout. Kiba and Shino, you locate the target and direct your dogs or bugs or any assistant proctors to retrieve the genins. Hinata, if anyone is injured, notify me or Ino. We _really_ need to not have any more deaths this time."

"So that's why you had Shino and I memorize all those scents! Do you know how hard it was to eliminate the scents of the people who didn't pass the first round?" Kiba loudly complained. "I only could recognize one scent in that mess of genin."

Shino glanced at him. "Kinako Keiganu's scent, I presume?"

"Hey? How'd you-"

"You've given me enough of her baked goods to recognize her scent."

"Melted sugar with a dash of cinnamon?"

"You cannot deny she has one of the sweetest scents."

"Guys…let's get started shall we?" Hinata placed her hands together and formed her seal. "Byakugan!"

_OoOoO_

While Team Five was heading further into the forest to reach the tower, Triple B was actually still stationed somewhere in between their starting point and a river. Sanae already started setting up a genjutsu barrier to entrap anyone foolish enough to not sense the obvious chakra trace. Kenji and Megane were busy figuring out the map of the forest. The ninja geek had his tablet configured to pick up traces of chakra through scanning his camera at an open area.

"How does this work anyways?" Kenji asked while he silently watched Megane scan relentlessly through a load of data. He, for the love of him, never understood this mad scientist of a ninja. He just knew that Megane had a special chakra trace or element that enabled him to mess with any technology. Literally…he made lights stop working and drained power supplies and made kitchen appliances stop working. Now he learned to weaponize this ability in a way.

"I power this with my chakra alone. It's an extension of myself." Megane monotonically responded as his attention was too focused on his tablet. "We have some outliers here and there."

"But none we can attack outright. Their shields are just as strong as ours." Sanae reported when she rejoined the group.

Kenji retorted, "I can just worm my way through it like I do with your dumb genjutsu!" And he received a beating from Sanae and Megane for that comment.

"Not all traps are made of genjutsu." Megane rolled his eyes. Sometimes, he thought Kenji was dumber than Ryuu.

The idiot responded, "I still can worm my way through it."

Sanae sighed, "What happened to the other team of our graduating class? We would have creamed them!"

"They're taking a year off before taking the exam." Another monotonic answer from Megane. "I see a group approaching near us. Do you want me to scout them with my bug?"

They nodded and Megane released his tracker bug out of their area. Using his tablet, he maneuvered the bug to travel up to the chakra they were sensing and had the image display right on his tablet.

They saw a team composed of two girls and one guy.

The girls were of tan skin and they were twins…except for the fact that one girl had short hair and the other had long hair that hung down. And their outfits were slightly altered such as different belts and sleeves and stuff. They had black hair with slight brown highlights. Their clothes were also black and shades of grey. The only color would be their eyes since the color was of jaded green. Their faces were slim like their body. And their forehead protector rested right on their foreheads.

The guy was different. He wore a simple black shirt and pants with fishnets underneath. He didn't wear a clan symbol like the girls. He was bulky and built, kind of like Kenji. But the most notable feature was his auburn red hair, which was matted down. It stuck out like the girls' green eyes stuck out of their black attire.

But what stuck out more were their personalities. The short haired twin seemed to be a little on the happy and crazy side; the long haired twin was more serious. And the guy looked like some dude just stuck in the middle of their antics.

And they were ninjas of the Mist. And they had an earth scroll.

"They're useless." Megane declared. "They have the same scroll as us."

"How about we take them out to eliminate the competition?" Kenji suggested.

Sanae rolled her eyes. "And risk our own scroll being taken? We're not a team known for brute force. That's Shun's team."

"That's not brute force. They're just intense strategists. The only person I can see brute force is that immigrant from the Mist"

"Don't call Ryuu that name! How many times have I told you that?" Sanae scolded. "Maybe these three are as nice as Ryuu?"

"Hey Sanae, haven't you heard?" Megane passed her his tablet with a few documents on it. "I've hacked into Konoha's system. All the chakra traces of each message Konoha's received have been transcribed into this. It says here that there's been some trouble in the Country of Water."

"Clan trouble?"

"More like a civil war and power struggle wrapped in one. The outlying clans with kekkei genkai are at each other's throats in an attempt to liberate Kirigakure. And the clans inside the village are trying to keep it safe, but even some of the kekkei genkai clans are siding with the outliers"

"Wow…no wonder Ryuu and his mother high-tailed it out of there." Kenji remarked, "Look! A team is approaching them!"

The three Mist ninjas were soon approached by ninjas from the Clouds. These three ninjas were dressed in grey and had masks on that covered their mouths and noses. They moved quietly, splitting up and gaining in on the Mist team at three different angles.

"Hana. They are coming!" The short haired twin cheered.

The serious twin sighed, "Ayame. Stop cheering and let's do our job. Please?"

"Okay!"

Both twins jumped and covered their area with mist that was filled with smoke and water. Everything was blocked. No shadows could be seen. No figures could be seen. Triple B hunched over Megane's screen and listened carefully for any noises. But everyone and everything fell in silence. Finally the smoke cleared. All of the Cloud ninjas were down in a pile like corpses to be buried.

"We got them! We got them!" Ayame cheered again.

"Heaven and earth on the first day." The boy snickered. But he paused and suddenly whipped out a needle and chucked it right at the bug.

Damn it! He got my tracker!" Megane cursed.

Sanae went into full panic mode and she drew out a scroll. "They've found us. We need to make a run for it."

"No way! I'm not running away from two girls!" Kenji growled and he leapt in their direction.

"Kenji! That stupid little boy!" Sanae sprinted after him into the forest.

* * *

><p><em>And the second stage has begun. And cute little Kinako has a crush on Kiba. I was originally going to have her crushing on Neji…my personal favorite…but he died. I cried. I moved on. He's still my number one. But I need another ninja to be a "prominent" man in Kinako's life and Kiba is my second, single favorite. Read and review!<em>


	11. Plans of Survival

_I think I'm going to focus a bit more on this story since I have motivation. Yes, I write when I'm motivated. It kinda sucks as a process. But, I got hooked back into my new generation OCs as well as introducing the last generation. Don't you all want to see what Naruto and the gang have been doing?_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eleven: Plans of Survival<strong>

Two days have passed so far. Three teams have managed to make it into the tower. One was from the Mist. Two were from the Sand, much to Temari's delight. Team Eight had already found a few teams eliminated from the exam. Most were due to stolen scrolls. One was dumb enough to open their scroll and therefore, eliminating themselves. Luckily there were no serious injuries. Temari knew full well that Konoha may not be able to host another exam if the location presented serious danger to the applicants. Prospective ninjas come from all villages to advance to the chunin rank, not to easily sign their life away.

Temari quickly left the control room after being briefed by Ino. The teams that already arrived were resting in their rooms. Kiba dispatched Kurema and Takeru to retrieve some disqualified teams. Sakura left to treat the critically wounded. Hinata was still tracking down teams. And the sensei's stood nearby in case they were summoned to greet their teams.

Except for Shikamaru…he spent his time on the roof. On some occasions, Temari snuck up there to check on him. She stayed there only for a few minutes at a time…just to watch him. He always had his eyes closed, his arms perched against the floor, his head resting between his palms, and one leg propped up over the other. When she was young, Temari found this image of him very relaxing and inviting. She'd even walk over and join him in their mutual silence. They were just friends at that point. There was nothing to be ashamed of…until the war broke out.

She remembered it clearly. Shikamaru was with his team, Ino and Chouji, and they were working together to wipe out the massive forces of Madara Uchiha. Temari held her own as well, commanding her wind ninjas to wipe out enemies in the back lines. Just when her team was gaining a lead, the enemy suddenly impaled her with a wooden spike just like Neji. She wasn't fatally impaled, just through her shoulder and abdomen by a small spike, but it left her incapacitated. Shikamaru saw her fall and in short, he freaked out and immediately dissolved his Ino-Shika-Cho team. He ordered Chouji to catch her and Ino to give first aid treatment. Then, by himself, he turned his shadow jutsu into a silent army where he fatally took down many revived ninjas that tried to get close to her. Temari had passed out at that point.

When she came to, Temari found herself in a hospital barrack in the outskirts of Konoha. She was very sore and bandages wrapped across her torso. She was alone in her tent. Then Shikamaru visited to explain what happened during the war. Who knew what happened afterwards? They talked, misery had set into place, he cried in front of her, both of their defenses were down, and before they knew it; she was hugging and kissing him as if it were their last time together. And she slept over at his place before she had to travel back to Suna.

They held this kind of relationship where their feelings remained in limbo. She'd come over to Konoha on ambassador duties and crash at his place for sex and what not. At that point, people just assumed they were dating…mostly because of Ino since she caught them entering his home. Chouji even asked if Shikamaru popped the question. A liberated Sasuke even found the couple to be predictable. Naruto just celebrated that he was right for once and he called dibs for being the first to know. Those passionate times were their twenties. What happened now?

"Temari, would you like to join me here like old times? You've been standing there for a good five minutes." Shikamaru drawled, not even attempting to find out where she was on his visual spectrum.

Temari cautiously walked over and sat down beside him. "What are you thinking Shikamaru?"

"Nothing in particular."

"Are you worried about your team?"

"They're probably near the tower at this point to set up a trap. That's just how my little team works."

"You've come to know your team really well. If it were for me, I'd be scolding my team for not coming in by the third day."

"Temari," he sighed, "Do you want to talk about your team and what happened? Don't you want to clear whatever is up between you and me?"

"I don't even know," Temari admitted. She drew up her legs close to her chest, a defense mechanism for whenever Gaara got out of line. "Every time I see your team, I think of what I could have had if my team didn't dissolve. Every time I see Kurema, I think about that battle three years ago. And when I see you, I hate that you still had it better than me."

"Hey…you know my annoying habit?"

"That you smoke in bed at times?"

"I picked it up after Asuma-sensei died. The day after you left, I drank so much that Sakura had to pump my liver. I never had things easy when you left, Temari, and things spiraled far worse than you think. The reason I even took in a new team after Kurema was because I needed a distraction from you."

Temari chuckled. "Typical Shika. Still thinking about me even when I live three days away."

"Shut up Mari. I know you were thinking about me too." He softly said, "What your dumb student did hurt the both of us. Can't we just move on and be friends again?"

"Shika…"

"Temari! Shikamaru!" Sakura called out, but paused when she saw the two alone. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No. What's the matter?" Temari asked.

"Hokage has requested for both of you right now. Can you leave right now?"

"Yeah. Sakura, you and Ino can take over for me. Keep the exam running until I come back or until the third exam proctors has arrived."

"Alright." Sakura nodded and ran back.

"Let's go. We'll talk about it later."

"Shikamaru…" It was useless. He already vanished away from her in a whirl of leaves.

He was already out of the exam field by the time Temari realized his disappearance. He quickly leapt out of the forest and into the pit where the Hokage's mansions resided. That speech was so…dumb. He almost confessed to her at that point. And she was nearly in tears. His deceased father really meant that a wicked woman was tender at times.

_OoOoO_

"Shun-kun…Ryuu-kun, should we rethink our plan? We've been waiting for two days." Kinako wearily asked once her boys returned to base.

So far, they've just sat around and waited for any team with a heaven scroll. They'd send her to scout any incoming teams to determine if they were dangerous so they could get a scroll. Sometimes, the teams were deemed too dangerous that they just let them pass. But since Kinako could only make the guesses, she had to make all the choices and she was a little bit of a scaredy-cat so her decisions were a bit biased. Ryuu even ignored her at one time and he attacked an incoming team. They easily escaped and Ryuu almost lost their own scroll.

"You know Kinako? I have an idea!" Ryuu annoyingly exclaimed. "How about we try to ambush a team instead of waiting around like sitting ducks!"

Kinako yelled back, "Hey! This is not my idea! I'm the one who made this trap. What have you been doing, huh?"

"We've been trying to find someone dumb enough to fall for your trap! Which is not working anyways!"

"Shut up!" Shun growled. "It's only been two days. Don't panic just yet. All our preparations will work in the future."

"The future being three more days before we fail this test." Ryuu pointed out. "How fitting for your name, Dead Last."

"Shut up, Gate Jumper!"

"Pompous Idiot!"

"Unwanted Immigrant!"

"Both of you be quiet!" Kinako shouted amongst all the yelling. She promptly got up and marched out of their base camp. "I'm going for a walk. I need some air after being stuck in that cave for two days!" And with that, their only kunoichi was gone.

Ryuu sighed and collapsed in a tired heap. They didn't even attempt to look for teams to steal scrolls from. They've just been setting a bunch of Shun's special tags in random places. Either Shun had something planned in that little head of…or Kinako was going along with it and making her plan up as she went. At least both of them were smart enough to make plans, Ryuu would rather charge in without trying to think.

Shun took a fruit from the Kinako's gathered pile of food and bit into an apple.

"So Shun, when are you going to tell Kina-chan about your infatuation?"

A trail of apple seeds flew out of Shun's mouth like a beautiful trail of a rainbow. "W-Wh-What! You idiot!" He chucked the apple right at Ryuu's head.

"What?" Ryuu mumbled and rubbed the throbbing ache. "If you didn't make it so obvious and so painful to watch, then I wouldn't be asking you. If only Kina-chan wasn't so stupid, she could actually see you and Kenji."

"Don't even mention his name!"

"See what I mean!"

"Shut up! Kinako is coming back."

"Hey guys. What's going on?" The chestnut haired pig-tailed girl went to sit by her teammates. "Have you truly figured out our plan of action?"

"Yeah! We're leaving out some tags to transfer anyone dumb enough to step on it and you made our trap." Ryuu enthusiastically debriefed her.

"Yes, I did string up a few dangerous logs here and there. Those ninjas won't know what hit them!"

"Yeah Kina-chan! That's the spirit!"

"Kinako…" Shun quietly asked. The ninja immediately got up and transported right next to Kinako. His fists made balls of her brown hair and he tied her up with string. Exploding tags were soon strapped onto her body and her escape became unreachable. "Who are you and what did you do to her?"

"Shun! She's Kina-chan!" Ryuu lunged up and tried to grab Kinako back. "What is wrong with you? Can't you recognize our teammate?"

Shun rolled his eyes and grabbed for his kunai. "Reveal yourself or I slit your throat."

The knife merely grazed her neck before this Kinako transformed into a girl of sixteen with long brunette hair. Her sea green eyes turned into blue. Her white and black outfit turned into a tiger patterned scarf wrapped about her torso and she wore a pelt of brown fur. Her legs were shown to be quite toned and worked out, unlike the nimble and frail legs of the true Kinako. However, along her revealing body, there were many scratches and scars from presumably cat fights. Her Mist headband was at the top of her head, fashioned into what seemed to be cat ears.

"Good eye kid…" She coyly said.

Ryuu stared. "You're…not Kina-chan…"

"Of course, she's not, you idiot." Another roll of Shun's eyes was compulsive at this point.

"But she was exactly like her! Even the chakra levels were the same!"

"Honestly Ryuu, has Kinako ever asked us for anything?"

"No. She usually guesses it since she can read our-oh… Oh. Oooohhhh!" The gears in that tiny brain of his were finally turning.

"Good." Shun turned back to their hostage. "Where is Kinako?"

The intruder chuckled, "She was captured and she will return."

"When?" Shun demanded and stuck the kunai knife even further.

"You have the earth scroll, don't you?" She cackled and screeched like a cat. "We have heaven. We'll do a trade. My life and your scroll for hers."

"How about I just kill you?" Shun moved the blade even closer.

"Boy…do you even have the heart to kill?" She easily slipped away from Shun's grasp and pulled herself up to his eyes. Studying carefully, a conclusion was confirmed. "You don't."

"Yeah, I'm just going to kill you."

"That won't be necessary." A bass voice from outside of their cave stated.

The first intruder grinned and she quickly slipped loose from her bonds and she grouped back with her teammates. One was fat and his sweater seemed like a large mane from his head to his back. The other guy wore black, all black, shimmering black, like a leopard in the snow. And he was slim and slick. He held onto rope that tied up Kinako's arms and legs and hands. Across her mouth was her own headband, gagging her so she couldn't speak or yell.

"Now…boy…" The cat girl held out her hand. "Your earth scroll or her life."

"Allow her to speak." Shun pulled out the scroll.

The cat girl merely nodded and gave her consent. Her lion friend yanked down Kinako's headband to reveal her bloodied lips.

"Ryuu-kun!"

"Wha-? Oh!" Ryuu jumped into the air and completed a series of hand signs. "Ice Release! Ice Needle Jutsu!" A myriad of long, thick, and sharp rods of ice shot out from behind his back. They fell down upon the group of ninjas in hopes of trapping them in an ice prison. One by one, these icy javelins nicked them by their clothes and trapped them into the ground. These ninjas hissed and growl and they scratched and clawed the ice into slush.

Just before the ice neared her, Kinako ducked out, used her string that bound her pig tails to severe her bonds, and she tumbled out. Her hands quickly flew onto one of Shun's tag taped on her bare chest. In a few seconds, she disappeared in a poof and jumped out from behind Shun. And from her new stage, she angrily yelled, "Water! Not ice! Water! They are cats Ryuu-kun! Use your head!"

"What!? I wanted to show off my snazzy new jutsu. Did you know how long it took for me to get this technique down?"

"You idiot!" Shun angrily shot an exploding tag right at Ryuu. "All my plans down the drain! Thanks a lot! Immigrant Bastard!"

"Dead Last! When have your plans ever worked?" Ryuu shouted back. "You want water? I'll give you water! Water Release! Wild Water Wave!" A wave of icy cold water flew out of his mouth where it aimed towards the three ninjas.

Unfortunately, their senses kicked in and all of them scattered out into the forest. Each ninja went in a different direction so that the crippled Team Five could not follow them. Kinako loudly cried and kicked the floor in her fury. Poor Shun fell back and could possible sleep on the ground floor. And Ryuu was gloating…in a way.

"We lost them." Kinako cried and she knelt down to Shun. "Shun-kun! What's going on?"

"Kinako. I'm trying to think." Shun pinched his forehead and stared up at the sky. He was really thinking…now that everything was so screwed up.

"Tch." A voice snickered from above.

Kinako first heard him and she tilted her head to gaze into the skies of the forests. "Kenji!"

"Hey Kinako Keiganu," He jumped down from the highest branches and landed beside her. He noticed her bloody lip and slowly, he reached out to wipe away the drip of red. "Those ninjas did this to you?"

"Kenji…" Kinako glanced back. Shun was still on his back. She weakly smiled. "It's okay. You already have your heaven scroll. You should pass along with your team. You don't need to help my team. Okay?"

Ryuu rolled his eyes. "These two…"

Kenji stared into her emerald eyes before giving a sigh and withdrawing from her. "Fine. Be safe here. It's going to be night soon."

"You be safe as well."

"Yeah, be safe! I'll need you in one piece when I beat you into pieces!" Ryuu quipped in whilst punching his hand with his fist.

"Same here." Shun finally stood up. "Get out of here, Kenji. And get your hands off my teammate!"

"Huh?" Ryuu curiously looked at him.

"Shun-kun…"

Shun looked left and right and found everyone staring at him. "For your own safety…she's loaded with explosive tags."

And to prove his point, Kinako unveiled her top to reveal exploding tags wrapped around her torso. She saw how Kenji was making a confused look and gawk. "One of Shun's ideas."

"You agreed to this?"

She shrugged. "I'm working on it."

"Your team is insane." Kenji shook his head and he finally leapt away.

Ryuu nudged her lightly with a knowing smirk on his face. "What was that, Kinako?"

"What?" Kinako seemed genuinely confused. "I was being nice. He is our friend."

Ryuu shot an evil glare. "No! He is an enemy and should not be trusted at all!"

"Hey? Can you two shut up? Let's retreat back into base for our next plan of action." Shun grabbed his teammates and they disappeared back into their base.

_OoOoO_

"Team number fifteen from the Grass: gone. Team number sixteen from the Sand: dropped like a fly." Takeru whistled as he went through these many teams. "That makes seven teams out after two days. Ugh! I had to retrieve four out of the seven. Why is it always me?"

Kurema rolled his eyes and whacked him in the head. "You're the one who's sent out most since you know this forest like the back of your hand. I believe your team was the first to reach the tower when we took the test."

"Yeah, what's taking my little bro so long? He's bringing down the clan name. Dad's not going to like this."

"Shouldn't you be happy? That means you're at an advantage to become the next head of the clan. Compared to your siblings, you are the only one who's actually following your Will of Fire."

Takeru gave his friend the 'really?' look. "Did I ever ask to become the head? Oh no! Sojiro would be fit for leadership even if he fights for Father's approval and his own good. I would rather become a simple ninja without all the stress and enjoy my days with sake, fighting, and women. Lots of women! Did I ever tell you how jealous I was of you, Kurema? You had one of the most easy-going mentors out there. That's luck!"

"Not luck. He promised my father to train me under his wing." Kurema pointed out. "If you want luck, try your little brother. He probably passed the bell test because Shikamaru-sensei was too lazy to even try."

"That can be true. My little brother is known for not giving up. He's a tenacious kid. And smart too. Shun skipped a year! That's why he's still in the runnings for heir to the clan." Takeru mindlessly flipped through a series of books and maps.

Kurema sighed and asked, "Do you think he will pass the chunin exams? Two brothers before him passed, but not because of lineage, but because of who they are. Sojiro utilizes his clan's techniques to the point where his defenses become his offenses. You…you're mad."

"Thank you for the compliment." Takeru nodded.

"From what Shikamaru-sensei told me, he's never seen Shun land a hit while in action. At best, he's landing hits while sparring with the other teammate. I really wonder how Shun's going to pass…"

"I wouldn't worry too much about him. Like I said: he's a smart kid. And you know I'm always right."

"Not to mention arrogant." Kurema muttered. He glanced over at his friend. "What are you doing?"

Takeru was still rummaging throughout the books and maps as if he was actually searching rather than exploring. "I'm looking for a detailed map of this tower. They've remodeled the place so much, I can't find anything." He finally pulled out a detailed map of the tower and began tracing the pathways. "Ah! Here it is! The kitchen!"

"Kitchen?"

"Sake! I need some after today's workout." Takeru took out a special kunai knife and he chucked it over to his friend. "Kurema. Aim for the window down in the left hand corner of this tower. My left. And throw it so it lands near the refrigerator. I'll be down and back in a jiff."

"Crazy fool. You're not even old enough to drink." Kurema tossed back the knife.

"C'mon!" He whined. "You're the only chunin I know who can curve a kunai knife!"

Kurema wanted to drive his own knife into that guy's eye. "Takeru! You're so annoying! I'd oughtta-"

"Hey kids!" One of their jounin bosses, Kiba Inuzuka, came in along with Akamaru. In his hand, he held a bottle of sake and a few shot cups. He chucked two of the cups, which Takeru and Kurema easily caught. "Here. It's on me. For working you out so much today."

"Hell yes!" Takeru spared no time in taking his shots.

"So what were you guys talking about?"

Kurema answered, "His little brother."

"Shun? From Shikamaru's team?" Kiba asked. "How's your little brother? I don't know much about him other than the fact he smells like you."

Takeru shrugged. "He's fine so far. I did not sense his death yet, you know. Hey, out of curiosity, what does the rest of his teammates smell like?"

"Ryuu Mizuno, he smells like sea water. Kinako Keiganu, she smells like baked sweets." Kiba listed and at that moment, his stomach grumbled. "I could use some dango from her bakery right now."

"The peach cakes are my favorite." Takeru piped in. "Kurema, what about you?"

"I just eat what you give me. But I like her chocolate cheesecakes."

"It'd suck if Kinako stopped working at her bakery. I hope she continues to work there when she becomes a ninja, like Ino and her flower shop." Kiba said, "Guess what? I was one of her first customers when the bakery opened up. She used to sneak an extra tart to me and spoil Akamaru till he got fat."

Akamaru happily barked and wagged his tail with that remark.

"I remembered my first time in there. I was picking out a cake for Sojiro's one-year anniversary with his girlfriend. I almost convinced Kinako to load the frosting with wasabi. Poor girl was so confused. Wait till I tell you about the time I pulled out my moves on her. She was so lost!"

"Takeru!" Kurema dropped his mouth in disgust. "She's four years younger than you!"

"What? Shikamaru's ex is three years older than him and he doesn't complain!" Takeru protested.

"You pulled out your player moves on a twelve year old girl?" Kiba smirked a little and a chuckle arose.

Takeru shrugged, "Yeah, I'm just messing with her for fun."

"Just don't go overboard with it. Kinako is like my little sister so I'll have Akamaru tear you up if her heart breaks because of you." Kiba warned and Akamaru growled along.

A twinkle shone in Takeru's mischievous eye. "I guess I'll have to step up my game."

"Keep that up and I'll send you on** all** of my retrieval missions." Kiba warned.

And the three guys continued their pleasantries and conversations with a few more borrles of sake. They continued talking even when night took over the day. Takeru was still not hammered by the sake. Kiba was nearly dead and even Akamaru was trying to prop him up. Kurema didn't really drink. Their night was soon done once Sakura and Ino popped in.

"Kiba? What are you doing drinking? You are working tomorrow." Sakura groaned. "Kurema. Can you bring him to his room?"

"Yes Sakura." Kurema propped Kiba onto Akamaru and they vanished on the spot.

"Ladies…can I help you?" Takeru wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, earning a mutual groan from both Sakura and Ino.

"Takeru Tetsuya, knock it off." Ino strictly ordered. "We need you right now."

He sensed that something was really wrong and Takeru immediately set down his drink. His face tensed up and his previous goofy smile turned into a frown. "What's the matter?"

"A team just came in. One of their teammates is dead."

* * *

><p><em>And the plot thickens. I like putting in random romantic teases since that's what Kishimoto does anyways, coughcoughShikaTemateasecoughcough. Are any of the teases going to come true? RyuuSanae, Kenji/Kinako/Shun, Megane/Game? I don't even know. The romances that I'd like to resolve are the obvious Shikatema and other side couples from the original generation like Sasusaku, etc. Also, my favorite character so far is Shun's brother, Takeru, because I was freaking writing this while watching Captain Jack Sparrow in all four movies. Omg, he is probably the most carefree ninja ever. Review!_


	12. The Last Minutes

_I'm still alive and updating this! You get more fluff scenes, more action, and more awesome from everyone!_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twelve: The Last Minutes<strong>

Amongst the crowd of concerned ninjas and two sobbing girls, a bloody body with a still heart was the fate of one prospective genin. He looked as if he recently turned thirteen. He wore simple robes and shorts and sandals. His skin was pale and his eyes were wide open as if the boy seen his death coming at him in full force. Blood splattered all over his clothes and across his face. His teammates, two girls, had blood smears over their uniform as if they carried him here since this place was the only place to go. And their scroll was obviously missing.

Sakura was in the front inspecting the body. Her gloves were out and her hair stitched together into a clean bun. She let her chakra flow over the body and she inspected the stab wounds with her own eyes. Ino was inspecting the many blood samples gathered from his articles of clothing and his Thunder headband.

Finally, Sakura stood up and spoke out her conclusion. "This boy died from multiple stab wounds in the torso area, therefore puncturing his heart and lungs. He is still in rigor mortis so he died today. Where did you girls find him?"

One girl sniffled and whimpered while she tried to formulate a response. Her nose was practically dripping of snot and her eyes were too bloodshot from the crying.

Takeru placed his arm around the girl. "Please, we need to know."

She sniffled again and nodded. "We found him in a clearing. He was dead by the time we got to him."

"Did you notice anything else?"

She broke down again. Luckily her teammate answered for her. "We only saw his body. There weren't any weapons or signs of a technique used. There wasn't even blood on anything besides him."

"The body was moved." Ino easily pointed out. "Do you remember where the clearing is?"

"Out that way." The girl pointed out to the west of the tower.

"Thank you. We'll do our best to figure out what happened to him." Sakura gently said to the girls. "Ino, can you bring them back to their sensei?"

"Got it." Ino wrapped her arms around the two little girls and they disappeared in a large puff of smoke.

Takeru solemnly whistled and shook his head. "Genins fight to kill in this round. It happens every year. He was so young. It's a shame we can't do much more than find out what happened." That was unfortunately true. All these genin signed the waiver. They knew what was at stake. So if one died, the exam proctors were only obligated to see what happened to the genins as it was in their domain. They couldn't prosecute anybody. That decision was up to the Kages.

"It's the least we can do." Sakura mumbled. She made a few last notes on her scroll and she tore off the page for Takeru. "Find out what happened, who dropped the body, and when and where the initial conflict happened. I want a full report from you once you're done. I trust you can do this successfully."

"Tch!" Takeru snatched up the report with a knowing smirk. "You're talking to the guy who can cover all of Konoha with his Space Tracker Jutsu."

"I expect your fifty kilometer radius will do the job." Sakura said with a knowing nod and she departed along with the body.

Takeru Tetsuya cracked his fingers and prepared to initiate the next ten hand signs. Leave it to the middle Tetsuya sibling to gain a reputation of possessing the largest possible range in the history of the clan, which the technique only averaged seven meters, as well as an extreme topographic memory. That was the reason he was the primary retriever of failed teams during this exam. All of Konoha and the surrounding forests was his personal playground. He could gather information of their disqualification for their sensei and safely lead all the genins out of the forest. And when he wasn't working on the Chunin Exams, he was doing reconnaissance for Konoha and working closely with the tracking squads. He partnered up with Kiba most of the time

"Hidden Technique: Space Tracker Jutsu!" Takeru focused all of his chakra in the west portion of the forest and limited his range to only ten kilometers. Since there were a lot of clearings and the murder scene wasn't even in the same place, this was going to take a little bit of time.

Around the corner, Hinata spotted Takeru sitting cross-legged with his hands frozen in the same position. She knew this position really well. It was similar to her usual usage of her Byakugan. He would spend hours in that exact position every time he was assigned a reconnaissance mission. Konoha would want the history of their enemies as well as what foreign villages looked like; inside and out.

Suddenly, Hinata received a notice to appear for a genin team. Someone passed the test this late at night? And she was the only one to receive them? Well Shino had the night shift to track out genin. Kiba was still drunk. Ino was dealing with the remaining teammates. And Sakura was managing this whole thing since Temari was out along with Shikamaru. So she was the only person receiving the call.

Hinata disappeared from her spot and she immediately appeared on top of two crossed scrolls of heaven and earth. She saw three genins of the Mist. "Hello! Welcome to the tower within the Forest of Death. You've successfully passed the second test."

The three boys smiled as they sat down to hear what she had to say. Poor Hinata didn't recognize a small smudge of blood on the sleeve of one of the boys.

_OoOoO_

Temari and Shikamaru silently made their way through the Hokage's building. After the war, all the hidden villages wanted to maintain their alliances so numerous ambassadors were assigned to each village. Since Temari was Suna's ambassador, she traveled to a lot of places. But Konoha struck her as a second home along with its wooden halls and deep forests. She even knew the deer herds there since Shikamaru introduced them to her during his escort duties. And the Hokage's building, she knew of the halls very well. The two of them always walked side-by-side through these halls.

Naruto even mistook them to be dating! At the time, they weren't, but his guess was not far off.

Temari chuckled and she nudged him in the shoulder. "Remember what we did in this hallway?"

"I almost lost my chunin rank." He flatly replied. "And no, we are not doing that ever again."

"You have to admit it was fun!"

"If you're trying to get me to screw you, just go to my place tonight. That would be a lot easier and less troublesome."

Her fist made contact with his upper arm, leading to a groan from her former lover. "Ouch! Temari! Troublesome bitch…"

She huffed, "You know what? Let's focus back to this. Do you know what Tsunade called us for?"

Shikamaru was still rubbing his sore arm. "You probably know about the Mist situation right now?"

"Tensions are high and they're about to fall apart as a hidden village. Why?"

"In our last mission together, we escorted a daimyo's heir out of the Land of Water and retrieved an important scroll. Since we did that, their problem is now our problem. From what I predict, Tsunade and Gaara are trying their hardest to get us out of this."

Temari sighed, "Only in your predictions will you try to avoid a conflict. Unfortunately for you, it's never going to happen so sharpen up your shadows."

"I can still dream." Shikamaru opened up the door. "We're here."

"Shikamaru. Temari. Sorry to drag you away from your Chunin and Instructor duties, but please realize that this is urgent. You already know about the Mist Village situation."

"Yes. The kekkei genkai conflict is being reignited in the village. The clans that lived in exile want to be admitted back into the village, but the clans living in the village are not letting them out of fear and established roots." Shikamaru easily reported.

"And you know that this dragged both the Sand and Leaf Village into this mess. The last thing we need is another inter-village war just because one village is having problems." Tsunade tossed them the scroll they retrieved from their last mission. Both Shikamaru and Temari caught it, humorously getting their fingers touching at the same time. The flustered woman dropped her hand and looked away while the lazy guy merely coughed it out.

Shikamaru suggested, "Why don't we just throw this thing back into the Land of Water? It's not like this scroll is useful to us unless we are going to go into war."

"Even if we did, that would only remove Suna from this mess." Tsunade sighed. "I tried speaking to Gaara to not have him involve his village. But he insists in keeping up our alliance. He's not going to let us do that."

"He is quite stubborn." Temari shrugged.

"Besides, the Mist Village wants something more than this scroll of a ferw of their kekkei genkai techniques." Tsunade held up a student profile of a recent graduate. "They want him."

"Ryuu Mizuno? My kid?" Shikamaru wasn't that surprised. The kid did emigrate from the Land of Water. As far as he knew, the Yuki clan was one of the exiled clans of that country. "But Ryuu is now a naturalized citizen of Konoha. He holds no more obligations to the Mist. He shouldn't even be on their radar."

"The mere fact that he is the last Yuki member warrants enough for their attention. My largest concern is that they aren't going to make him betray us. They'll just kidnap him."

"Lady Tsunade, what do you suggest we do?" Temari asked. "With my role as an ambassador, the most I can do is to dissuade the Mist representatives from doing anything rash."

"Our main goal is neutrality. We won't do anything unless the Mist attacks first or attempts to kidnap Ryuu. Temari, I'm going to ask you to keep a special eye on Ryuu and any Mist ninjas during the exam. And I'm requesting for you to stay in Konoha a little longer. I've already sent the paperwork to Gaara. We need to keep a Sand representative at all times in these cases. Shikamaru, just take care of Ryuu and have him learn his clan's techniques from that scroll. I give you special permission." Tsunade took back the main scroll and tore out the section for the Yuki clan and handed that back to Shikamaru.

"Ryuu's going to be ecstatic. I'll never hear the end of it." Shikamaru said with a knowing smirk.

Temari shook her head. "Now that I'm stuck here, I'll be on the same boat."

Then the kid was going to be super happy with her next decree. "And also, in order to maintain his loyalty with Konoha, as Hokage, whether he receives a pass or fail in the Chunin Exams, I decree that he is automatically a Chunin from now on."

Oh…now that was interesting. But he'd rather withhold that information till later.

_OoOoO_

It was the last day. Team Five was still stuck in their little cave. Any attempts to ambush other teams were met with failure. But that was because Ryuu often went rogue and came back with the most amusing injuries. Kinako had already administered first aid to his ankle, knees, head, arm, stomach, and now, his hip. Ryuu was a little bit weary of stripping down to his underwear to fix that one…until Kinako told him his length. With that already known, he dropped his pants and Kinako pulled out some medicinal herbs and gauze for his injuries.

On the other hand, Shun was drawing out his thoughts onto the ground with a stick.

"It's our last day, Dead Last. I hope you have something in that genius head of yours." Ryuu dryly remarked as he quickly pushed Kinako away once she was done. The boy quickly pulled up his pants and trudged over to his best friend.

"I used my Space Tracker Jutsu already. There is a team outside ready to ambush us. Maybe they followed you back after your last attempt." Shun shot a glare at Ryuu, who gave a mere shrug. "Kinako, you're holding onto our scroll."

"What? Shun-kun!"

Ryuu angrily protested, "You're letting our weakest member—no offense Kina-chan—hold onto the only thing that can pass us. Are you out of your mind?"

"Trust me!"

Ryuu growled, "Fine!" He took the scroll out of his pocket and tossed it at Kinako.

"Shun-kun…I can't-"

"Kinako! Just trust me on this one. Shikamaru-sensei assigned me as group leader for this. And you know the best out of all of us what a genius that man is." He ordered again.

Kinako meekly nodded. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Are your traps still in place?"

The pigtailed brunette opened up her fists and invisible pieces of string jumped up from the ground and wrapped around each finger. They glinted of silver, as if Kinako wore ten rings on her hands. She pulled her hands inwards to force the string taut. "They're ready."

"Okay, lure them out. We're facing them head on."

Kinako pulled in both pointer fingers first.

Three different ninjas staked out high in the trees. After following that joke of a ninja, they knew that his team was probably no better. Since it was the last day, they were going to do get a scroll. Anything. These three ninjas were all guys and they were covered with masks. They all had their swords out.

The leader counted down. "One…two…thr—"

"Log!"

"What?"

The three ninjas jumped out onto the clearing just as the logs swung at them. But once their feet touched the ground, a buried explosive tag emerged and ignited. But even so, they were too quick and managed to jump out in time.

"Come out! You little kids!"

Team Five emerged from their cave. Shun and Ryuu stood side-by-side, protecting Kinako as she held her control over her chakra infused strings. Ryuu and Shun retrieved their kunai knives and charged forward.

"The girl has it. You make it too obvious." The leader jumped on top of his teammates shoulders. "Combo Attack! Hurricane Vortex!"

Three whirling tornados barreled right at Team Five, where one twister was reserved for each genn. The first two took out Ryuu and Shun, spinning them around and knocking them like a pinball. Ryuu was the first to land where he smacked into a tree and his scarf caught onto a limb. Luckily, he usually wore the scarf loose so the fabric merely slipped off his neck. Shun, on the other hand, had his grey hoodie caught on a limb and his head slipped into the sweatshirt. His poor legs kicked around fruitlessly while the two ninjas laughed their asses off.

Kinako, however, the third ninja gently carried the girl up and once the whirlwind vanished, she was in his arms held by her waist. Her eyes were shut tight, finally opening to see that she was high above ground and on a tree. "What the-?"

"Where's the scroll, girl?" The ninja growled.

Kinako kept her lip tightly shut.

He smirked. "Oh well, we have enough time to search you." He jumped away with Kinako still in his arms. His teammates soon joined him as they fled out.

"What do we do with her?"

"We strip her down." The guy holding her, whom Kinako presumed to be the leader, tightened his grip.

At that point, Kinako definitely felt his hands ride a little bit more above her waist. Oh forget it! Shun can remake his stupid plan while she improvised right now! She'd rather not have her clothes off by the time she went back. Kinako twisted and turned and her hand sprung free from his grasp. She pulled down her shirt, revealing her strapless mesh top that was laden with tags.

"Boss! She's loaded!"

"What?" The leader glanced down to see all the tags. "What is she? A suicide bomber?"

Kinako struggled again and this time, she lit up her tags.

"She's lighting them up! Drop her!"

Right when Kinako felt his grip loosen on her waist, she wrenched herself free and pulled taut all the strings of her fingers. Every tag shot out from her body and attached to her attackers. The cheeky emerald eye girl swiftly landed on another tree branch with a heaven scroll in hand. Her free hand squeezed onto the last tag on her chest and a puff of smoke encircled her completely.

"Shun! Kina-chan's back!" Ryuu rushed up to a collapsed Kinako.

Shun was also urgent. "You came back too early. How far are they?"

"A few hundred meters that way. And they were going to strip me down! I had to do it." Kinako mumbled as she tossed both scrolls to Ryuu. "Hide these in your jacket."

"Kinako! We have no time!" Her mastermind teammate continued to complain. "They'll be back in minutes!"

"Draw a little faster. Use your blood if you have to." Kinako tossed some empty tags up to her teammate. "I still have some unused traps. I can stall them a little if they fall for all of them."

"Activate them now. They're close." Shun canceled out his jutsu and made a grab for her empty tags.

Shun glanced at him. "Close? I thought your range was three meters."

"With all this training, I've doubled it. Gotta go!" Shun bolted away.

"He's still under the average." Shun mocked.

"Not the time." Kinako groaned and she controlled all her chakra to pull every single string and trap. Soon, logs were flying and her chakra turned harmless wires into razor blade cutters. Tags lit up one by one and detonated every second. Even so, through all the smoke and death traps, the three ninjas still came forward to fight.

"You little bitch! You think that's going to stop us?" The leader growled and he lunged forth at her.

"Ice Release: Ice Needle Jutsu!" Shun let the small needles fly out from his sleeve and enlarged them as they headed for the target.

However, all three ninjas dodged his attack. Ryuu sent out more and this time, he grabbed an ice dagger and lunged back. Clashes were exchanged by knife and ice. Shavings of the ice came off and Ryuu directed all those tiny fragments to drive into his opponent's body. Kinako, on the other hand, was still launching as many explosive tags from herself to her two opponents. She must have pissed them off big time for two people to single her out. Once her tags ran out, she resorted to her spool of wire. Her chakra shot through and turned it into a razor sharp wire. She lashed out, leaving red cuts and possible clean amputation had her opponents not turned away.

"Shun! Are you done yet?" Ryuu called back.

Shun called, "Run!"

"Let's go!" Ryuu shot out some more ice javelins, which luckily managed to pin his opponent. The albino boy ran for Kinako, lifted her into his arms, and fled right out to Shun.

Shun clutched onto his shoulder and all three raced away from the ninjas. Shun quickly pulled out his newly made tag and chucked it onto a nearby tree. The two ninjas made a mad dash while Kinako kept an eye out.

"They're right behind us!" Kinako shouted.

Shun lunged forward, hand still grasped tightly on Ryuu's shoulder. Ryuu was practically killing Kinako with his arms. Just as the three ninjas were mere inches away, Shun finally made his last sign and touched the tag with his nail. Poof! All three gone!

Bam! Bam! Bam! Three ninjas rammed into one tree.

Team Five appeared right at the front of the central tower. Shun practically collapsed once appearing. He drained his last bits of chakra using that last technique and he was transporting three people to top it off. Ryuu finally let Kinako down, also known as, dropping her flat on the ground.

"Ouch! Ryuu-kun!" Kinako whined as she rubbed her sore butt. "Don't drop a girl like that!"

"How about you improve your speed so we don't have to carry you next time?" Ryuu huffed as he looked up. "It's almost the evening. We need to get in quick!" The boy grabbed onto Kinako's arm, but she yanked away.

"It's a few steps away. We can walk. Shun-kun here is drained out of his chakra. Carry him instead." Kinako snapped and held out her hand. "Give me the scrolls. I can probably figure out what to do with it."

Ryuu reluctantly complied, dropped the scrolls in her hand, and picked up Shun to drag him in. "That technique took you out and you barely did anything to fight."

"I had to transport three of us over five kilometers." Shun snapped. "And for your information, I did all the planning and thinking while you two sat around and screwed everything up."

"We sped everything up, Dead Last! Believe it or not, that nickname also means you're too slow!"

"Shut up, you idiot! I actually think unlike you who charged at random teams for a day straight."

"Why you-"

"Hey boys!" Kinako yelled back and gave her teammates the look. "Do we have to do this now? We have only twenty minutes to figure out what to do with these scrolls and our only instructions is a poem. Mind giving me some help?"

"Right Kina-chan!" Ryuu called but grumbled, "At least we did some work. All she did was sit around, get kidnapped, and set off her traps that we all had to make."

"Stop grumbling so much. You were doing it when we were making the traps. You were doing it when we waited for people. And you're doing it now. You can at least acknowledge that my plan worked out overall…with minor tweaks…mostly because you and Kinako are too stupid to trust me." Shun smirked.

"I get it. I get it. You were right."

"You owe me a week's worth of lunch by the way."

"Shut up!"

"Boys!?"

"Coming!"

The albino and the last Tetsuya boy ran up to their teammate into an empty training hall. The hall was made of pure concrete with a mezzanine surrounding all the walls. There were many scrolls hanging on the walls. Some scrolls contained characters of power, wisdom, strength, courage, and so on, and other scrolls had poems written on it. Kinako stood at the very end of the training hall, which had one large scroll with the inscription: Will of Fire. In her hand, she held both the green and blue scrolls that were required to be retrieved.

"What do we do with this?" Kinako asked.

"Open it. That's what Temari-sensei said to do." Shun took one scroll from her. "On the count of three, we open. One. Two. Three!"

They spun the scroll out, revealing inked characters and seals.

Shun's eyes widened at the inscription. "Throw the scroll! It's a Summoning Technique!"

Both scrolls flew out of their hands and landed in a criss-cross formation. Smoke exploded. All three students were thrown back by the wind, a noticeable wind that they all recognized.

"Temari-sensei!"

The wind mistress smirked as she watched each genin gawked at her sudden appearance. "Hey. You three made it just in time. And you're the last team too!"

"Yes!" Shun and Ryuu high-fived each other while Kinako breathed a sigh of relief,

"I'm here to congratulate you for passing the second stage of the Chunin Exams. You are now one step closer into becoming a full-fledged ninja. However, at this point, you stop working as a team. From now on, you can only rely on your own skills to fight your battles. It proves that you possess the abilities of a ninja. That's why this stage is the hardest of them all."

She watched each of them reveal their sign of terror. Shun was frozen. Ryuu was shocked and his mouth hung wide open. And Kinako looked ready to cry. Shikamaru was right. Scaring his team was easy.

Temari cracked a small smile and her cold demeanor disappeared. "But for now, you can rest easy. Tomorrow, the third stage will begin so replenish your chakra and your strength. And someone's here to greet you." She led them up a few flights of stairs, down a hallway, and to one room where one person sat waiting.

Kinako's emerald eyes twinkled with sheer delight and happiness. "Shikamaru-sensei!" She and the rest of her teammates ran up to their teacher.

"Hey. I knew you'd make it." Shikamaru smirked and gently patted Shun's shoulder. "How were leadership duties?"

"Good…" But Shun shot glares at his teammates. It's not like they followed his orders.

Shikamaru shrugged. "You're here. That's all that matters. Go rest up. All of you look terrible."

He was right. They all were dirtied up, bruised, and covered in bandages. Shun already covered his arms and legs in bandages, yet those bandages were tinted red. Kinako bandages up her unclothed arm and her hand was bandaged underneath the other sleeve. And Ryuu…he had bandages and x-shaped bandaids on his cheeks. Dirt and other things covered up their faces. Kinako, in particular, had burn marks peeking out of her top. They needed rest desperately. So, all three genins retired into their rooms in a swift heartbeat.

"In the end, it was really Shun who pulled them all through." Temari waited outside of their room, waiting for Shikamaru.

"We both knew it. For his family, this stage is a cakewalk." Shikamaru yawned as he walked out. It was getting late. He too needed sleep after that exhausting meeting.

"The last Tetsuya boy is particularly slow. His elder brothers arrived on the first day. But after watching his performance today, he's smart just like you. And you knew this all along."

Even his ex-girlfriend still knew him pretty well. The reason he assigned Shun to be the leader because he already knew that the mastermind of their excellent teamwork was always Shun. If he could describe it, in a way, his genin team became quite an Ino-Shika-Cho combo. And Shun was definitely in Shikamaru's position.

"You know my team well. I hear they also call you their sensei." Shikamaru knocked her right cheek, a gesture he often used to annoy her while they were still teenagers. "You should get some sleep. We both worked too hard."

"I'm staying for the third stage preliminary rounds. Shikamaru, so don't invite me to your place just yet." Temari smirked as his surprised expression. His reactions were just like his genin team. It's cute.

"Troublesome woman…I guess you mean we're back to being friends."

"Shut up Crybaby. You've wanted this ever since I came back."

He shut up this time and casted his eyes away with a scoff.

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><p><em>And now you know, contrary to previous chapters and descriptions of the team formation, Shun has demonstrated to be the genius strategist in the team. I was originally going to make Kinako the strategist, but I wanted to show her struggle with her action capabilities of a ninja…and it would be too much of an advantage on her part. She can already do pretty accurate face reading. And Ryuu is getting better at his kekkei genkai skills, but is it enough? Read and review for the third stage!<em>


	13. Left Handed Win

_Last chapter, you got Shun awesomeness. This chapter, you get more Shun awesomeness. I think I'm going to use the third stage as a way to dive more into the characters. Lots of things are going to happen and a bunch of characters are going to react._

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><p><strong>Chapter 13: Left-Handed Win<strong>

"Everyone say your goodbyes to our second stage proctors and assistants. They've spent five days and four nights keeping track of you guys so you might not die in the forest. They will be replaced by a new set of proctors." Temari announced to the seven passing teams of genin.

Team Five saw themselves standing at the very end of the line of genin. And they saw that a Mist genin team was at the beginning. Triple B stood somewhere in the middle. In total, there were two Leaf teams, two Sand teams, and three Mist teams. The Mist must have stepped up their game this year. In front of the lines of genin were the proctors, medics, and their assistants. Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Sakura, Ino, Takeru, Kurema, and a few others stood in a straight line facing the passing teams. The senseis stood on the left side of the genins. Shikamaru and Chouji were standing together, exchanging pleasantries and chatting.

Yet, in the midst of their farewells, Takeru found the moment to mouth a "good luck" to his brother. Shun, in return, stuck out his tongue and mouthed back a "go to hell!" Kiba gave a nod to Kinako, who blushed and turned away.

Suddenly, they all vanished in a puff of smoke that exploded out and nearly swept the genins of their feet. Once the smoke cleared and the genins could open their eyes, they were all jaw-dropped at the newest set of proctors. Ryuu was the most ecstatic.

"Greetings! My fellow genins ready to begin their journey of youth, strength, courage, and guts! Are you ready?! Scream out your youth from the top of your lungs!"

"Wow Bushy-Brow. Way to start off our job. I think you're scaring our new genins."

"These fresh genins must know of their blossoming youth! It shall shine brightly in the matches today with my guidance!"

"Okay, let's introduce ourselves and then you can talk about your shtick all you want." The first ninja proctor stepped forward followed by his partner. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki!"

"And my name is Rock Lee!"

"And we are…" They jumped out to strike a mirroring pose with their legs and arms stretched out, their jazzy hands, and in between, a little tap dance. "The Super Dynamic Proctors of Youth!"

That was…lame.

Shikamaru slapped himself in the forehead and sent a very judging look at Temari. What was she thinking? She merely shrugged it off and continued watching from the sidelines.

Silence drifted over the genins. Some were confused. Some were weirded out. Some were disappointed. And some rolled their eyes with this stupidity. The Mist ninjas were snickering. The Sand ninjas remained stoic. A few Thunder ninjas giggled. And the Leaf ninjas were confused or not surprised…especially Ryuu. He was perpetually confused and devastated. Naruto Uzumaki, the savior of Konoha, the ultimate ninja, one of the rare jinchuuriki, and a beloved hero, acted like a doofus? Rock Lee was a no brainer, even if he was a legendary ninja without using ninjutsu or genjutsu. That man was silly and serious all the time. But Naruto? And Ryuu had such a good image!

"Nothing? No reaction?" Naruto recomposed himself. "What a shame! We spent so long on those moves!"

Rock Lee clenched his fist with burning enthusiasm. "Fret not Naruto! From now on, after each match, we shall strike our inspirational pose of youth to spur them on! I can feel their flames of passion in my guts!"

Shikamaru loudly coughed and shot the two fools a quick glare. Even if he was taking a leave as a Chunin Exam proctor, he could still assert his authority so that these idiots can do their jobs properly. As amusing as their antics were, they needed to get the ball rolling…now! And if Rock Lee uses the word "youth" one more time, he might have to shadow strangle that fool.

Rock Lee, always the smarter one, recomposed himself to begin the third stage. "We all are here for the third stage of the Chunin Exam. This stage is a one-on-one match, tournament style. However, before we proceed, we must hold preliminary matches since there are too many teams right now."

Naruto pointed up to a screen. "This will randomly match you to your opponent. The winner gets to advance to the final rounds while the loser fails the exam. You will fight until your opponent is down. Is that understandable?"

"Right!"

"Very well." Naruto flipped a switch on a remote, causing the screen to turn on and suddenly flip through a bunch of random names. "Let's see who's up!?"

_Shun Tetsuya vs Neko_

Shun was first to go. Shikamaru glanced at his student, who was normally composed and stoic. He didn't seem scared at all.

"Will these two step out?"

Shun stepped forward from his group and another noticeable and familiar genin girl stepped out. They glanced at each other for a split second and Shun instantly scowled while the cat girl licked her lips. They've met before and Shun was more than ready to drive his kunai knife into her. And this girl was named Neko…how fitting…

Rock Lee and Naruto then directed the others up a flight of stairs to a small mezzanine surrounding the entire arena. The remaining Team Five members stuck together as they raced back to Shikamaru and Temari. Triple B was opposite of them with Chouji. However, Triple B didn't really mind that Shikamaru's team passed. Their worries and thoughts were set on the Mist ninjas next to Team Five.

"Ryuu-kun, she's from the feline ninjas. We've faced them already. Do you think Shun can win?" Kinako glanced over at her teammate, who was watching closely over Shun.

"He'll beat her. He has to…"

"I can see her." Kinako said. "She's fast and tricky. But her claws are dangerous."

"Poison?"

"I'm not sure…"

"Stupid Girl." Ryuu snapped. "He's going to win."

Temari observed the match-up and Shun's fellow teammates. "Your kid is going against a strong opponent. Takeru saw that girl messing with your team. She's not going to be easy."

"He'll do fine." But Shikamaru still acknowledged one of Shun's weaknesses existed…no offenses. He hoped his student learned some elemental attacks. As far as he knew, Shun was learning lightning techniques. But was his efforts enough?

Shun stood opposite of this cat-tiger girl. His eyebrows knitted to a close and his fists clenched tightly together.

Neko was still smirking. "Round two kid."

"You're going down kitty." Shun withdrew his knife.

Rock Lee and Naruto remained in the front of the arena. Rock Lee stuck his hand out to signal for a start. "I give you the best of luck! Let the first match begin!"

A tense silence ballooned from the two opponents. Each of the observers leaned out over the railings. They wanted to see who'd make the first move.

Neko crouched on all fours, similar to Kiba's fighting style, except with a sense of posture and regality. And she pounced. Moving at lightning speeds, her clothes became a blur to Shun. Suddenly, the boy felt himself lifted upwards a slight as she landed kicks and punches against his defenses. With every attack, he easily blocked, leading this fight to nowhere for now.

Shikamaru observed Shun's every move. What was his student thinking? And how much time did he need? There comes a point where this stalling stops.

"It looks like Shun Tetsuya is blocking her moves!" Naruto loudly announced, suddenly destroying the previous tense atmosphere.

"Yes! But how long is he going to block?" Rock Lee joined in.

They were now commenters... Shikamaru glanced at Temari. "What exactly were you thinking when you hired them?"

"I thought they'd make it a little livelier."

"It's annoying and troublesome." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, Neko's frustration began to show as she clawed at Shun over and over again. She jumped over him, attempted to kick him out, only for Shun to dodge and throw shurikens and kunai knives back. A menacing growl escaped her feral lips. "Time to stop playing around kid." She joined her hands together and performed three seals. "Hidden Technique: Iron Cleaver!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Shun found the menace as a blur again. Her fangs were sharpened. Her claws glowed of silver chakra. And when she lunged, he easily bounced back away from her claws. But still, after a while, he felt his sweater rip on the sleeves. Then, his sweater sleeve fell off completely. And then, his mesh shirt underneath tore right off. And then finally, red blood seeped out of a small cut on his skin.

Neko stood confidently across from him. She held out one of her hands, which blood was dripping out of her fingertips. "I got your scent kid." Her hands flew together to perform another technique. "Hidden Technique: Narrow Eyes Jutsu!" In an instance, a large, black dome cascaded over the opponents.

Crap! Shun hurriedly performed his next set of hand signs. "Space Tracker Ju-"

"Naruto! It seems that Neko Toragi trapped Shun Tetsuya and herself into a cage!" Rock Lee announced in his usual loudness.

"I can't see a thing in there!"

"What do you believe is going to happen?"

"I don't think Shun Tetsuya can see a thing in there! In fact, he's at a disadvantage since she can smell him out! The boy is done for! Shikamaru! Care to comment?"

"Shut up. How troublesome…" The sensei grumbled back.

Temari just laughed.

But still, the boy just activated his Space Tracker Jutsu. What use was that? It required him to be completely immobile. And even if he could see her, it would be too late for him. His technique was not the Byakugan.

Poof! Shun popped out from one of the special kunai knives he previously threw at her.

"The boy's out! I repeat, the boy's out!" Naruto cheered.

"Look at that fire in his eyes! He is not going to give up this fight easily. Just look at him…" Rock Lee's eyes widened in utter shock at Shun's next move. "…emptying out his weapon arsenal…"

The boy jumped into the air and emptied out every knife he had in his pouch. And once those five knives were out, he pulled out another scroll and shot out twenty more out of the seal. And just as the tigress pulled away her black dome technique, he vanished in a smoke.

"What is this guy thinking?" Ryuu mumbled. "Shun never landed a hit on me in taijutsu."

"Maybe he doesn't want to hurt his best friend." Kinako whispered. "Look at all those weapons. They're tagged. He's creating a minefield."

"Where are you!?" Neko growled.

Shun jumped her from behind and landed one kick. But before she could strike back, he vanished yet again. And he appeared a few yards away, not by speed, but by quick teleportation. Even Neko grew irritated by his constant vanishing and reappearing act.

Naruto jumped out of his seat. "Hey! That's my dad's technique!"

"Would you look at that? He is displaying the secret technique of the Tetsuya clan! I hear that this clan of seals managed to make this technique after watching your father during the war."

"Wow. They got to teach me some moves. I can't wait to be the Orange Flash!"

"Naruto Uzumaki? Do you know how difficult space-time ninjutsu is? What if you transport all of your body and leave an arm behind?"

"Only you would do that Bushy-Brow!"

Neko smirked and she quickly leaped into the air. "All of your weapons are on the ground! You can't get me if I'm in the air! You stupid kid!"

"Think again." Shun said from above her.

"What? How'd you-"

He didn't even let her speak. Shun drove his last kunai right into her shoulder. And attached to the knife was another exploding tag, lit up with sparks flying. Her blood splattered onto his fingers. Specks of blood peppered his face. But, that was not it. Shun maneuvered himself into a flip and struck her down onto the ground with his feet.

She wasn't knocked out. But the exploding tag was near its end.

"TIME!" Rock Lee yelled at the top of his lungs. "I declare Shun Tetsuya to be the winner!"

Naruto jumped into action as well by throwing a shuriken and cutting off the tag so it landed a few feet away from Neko. Interestingly, the tag merely fizzled out.

"What? A fake?" Naruto gaped.

But Shun smirked back at the proctors. "You already announced me as the winner. Can't take that back."

"He is right, Naruto. We cannot take his win away because our word is final." Rock Lee yelled once again. "Shun Tetsuya will advance into the final rounds!"

"What!?" Neko screeched and glared at Shun. "You weren't fighting me at all! You were trying to trick the proctors. That must be against the rules!"

Naruto answered, "I don't think so. If that tag was real, you would have been a goner."

"You two are pretty easy to trick anyways." Shun said. He glanced up at his sensei. That was the person he could never trick.

Neko smirked. "I knew it! You can't kill!"

"You're not the one I'm trying to kill." Shun eyed at his rival opposite of his team, the one with a scar down his right face.

But once Shun tried to leave, he collapsed onto the floor in a clump.

"Shun-kun!" Kinako hurriedly jumped.

"Dead Last! You okay buddy?"

"Oh stop worrying. He's just going to be knocked out for a day." The tigress shouted as she jumped back with her teammates. She bandaged up her shoulder wound using her hand and tongue.

"What happened, Neko? I thought you had him?" The fat teammate, who resembled a lion, asked her.

"Shut up! He must have pulled some trick while in my Narrow Eyes Jutsu."

Ryuu picked up his best friend and hoisted him onto his back. He and Kinako carried him up the stairs and set the unconscious boy against the wall. "Hey Kina-chan, I thought you said the claws were dangerous. I thought it was poison!"

"Um…" Kinako glanced at her feet sheepishly. "They were really sharp…"

"Kinako! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry…"

Temari silently watched the remaining two members banter about whilst Shun slept. "Your team is quite close to each other." She whispered to Shikamaru.

"They weren't like that before." Shikamaru remarked, fondly reminiscing their early days as a team. "Kinako was alienated by the boys. Ryuu hated her and Shun didn't acknowledge her. Shun and Ryuu may be best friends, but they used to fight constantly. Their teamwork was horrible."

"How could their teamwork be horrible if they had this little boy?" Temari gently nudged Shun back after he fell over on her.

"No one listens to him. Not even me." Shikamaru chuckled. "But I knew he was smart from the very beginning. He's just not pushy."

"Kind of like you when you were twelve. Lazy. Unwilling to step up. Zero leadership qualities."

"Shut up…"

"So…what do you think the boy did?"

"Shun Tetsuya comes from a family that specializes in space-time ninjutsu."

"I know that already." Temari cut in. "I work with his brother for god's sake."

"Takeru. I know. He is my disciple's best friend. He possesses the best skill in space-time ninjutsu and memorized all the family's techniques by the time he graduated out of the academy. I believe the eldest brother has the most strength and raw power, increasing the technique's effect by tenfold. Shun has none of that. His chakra levels are only average and he knows a few techniques. At best, his skill level with space-time ninjutsu is mediocre. So instead, he is an expert in his clan's sub-specialty: seals. Look at his fingers."

Temari glanced over to the unconscious boy. Right now, Kinako was dressing the wounds on his arm and wiping away the blood. But she failed to clean up Shun's fingertips where the middle and pointer finger was padded with blood. The Sand kunoichi then glanced over at his opponent, Neko, and she spotted a seal of blood on her back. Then, she glanced all over the arena where Shun left all of his weaponry. Each kunai and shuriken had a small seal discreetly painted on the tool.

"Look at the fake exploding tag closely." Shikamaru pointed at the lone tag in the center of all the weaponry.

"The seal is modified, but either than that, it is nearly identical." Temari concluded. "But genins, even a Tetsuya, do not come prepared with fake exploding tags. There is no point in that. He must have drawn it in during the fight."

"And that's what happened in the black dome. Since Neko couldn't see, she didn't see him drawing the fake seal on her or on the tag. Once he got himself out, it was just a matter of utilizing the seal on her back."

"But in the end, he did not truly beat her. If the proctors hadn't stepped in, the girl may have had a chance of beating him."

"That's because you chose some stupid proctors."

Temari scowled in return and punched Shikamaru hard. She then jumped out to talk to the proctors. "Lee. Naruto. Next time, wait at least a minute before you call the match. You just let one kid into the final rounds for free!"

"My apologies, Temari-san. But we were instructed to limit the amount of deaths. What if that tag was real?" Rock Lee said.

"Grandma Tsunade told us to not screw up this round. For three years, no other village wanted to participate in the Chunin Exams when Konoha was hosting. And I know you know the reason why."

Temari narrowed her eyes at the blonde and kicked him in the shin. "Naruto. Just don't screw this up. We need capable ninjas." She went back to watch from the sidelines.

"Naruto. We should announce the next match." Rock Lee pressed a button on his remote so the screen reappeared again. "The next match goes to…"

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><p><em>How did the first match go? I'm also going to have the Triple B fight and document that. But there's so many character to create! Even I can't keep track of them. I decided to limit the teams to Leaf, Sand, and Mist since those are the countries that matter in this story. Besides the only non-Leaf teams that are important are the three boys that killed a guy and the two girls and one guy that discovered Megane was spying on them. Yeah, I don't really care about the feline team. That's a one-time deal. What do you think? Review!<em>


	14. Determined Win

_I'm updating a bit early so I can spazz about all the obvious ShikaTema in recent chapters! Like asdfjkl;afsdjkl; omg, Kishimoto, you so ship ShikaTema that it's not even funny. Every time Shikamaru shows up, Temari is complimenting him. Smart guys are her type! And it now proves that my OTP is (likely) canon! Ack! When this manga ends, I want to see them with kids or married or she can be his assistant when he becomes Hokage, if he ever decides to be one. That would be a good permanent way to keep Temari in the Leaf by having her become an official diplomat representing the Sand. Naruto, or someone close to Gaara, can go to the Sand and be a diplomat. I just want them together! My shipper heart!_

_Ahem…now that that's taken care of… So this chapter is going to have a lot of fights and matches. I really want to move on from the preliminary rounds since they really just determine who fights next in the final rounds. The background characters get their fights done in like seconds. Literally, you will see how fast I wrote to speed through all the background fights. Also, I limited each fight to our main genin so Shun had the last chapter. Who's going to shine in this chapter?_

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><p><strong>Chapter 14: Determined Win<strong>

_Ayame vs Akai Kasunoko_

The twin with short black hair and emerald eyes cheered and she excitedly jumped out from next to Team Five.

"Geez, she's hyper..." Ryuu muttered while Kinako scoffed at that comment.

Ayame wore most black and grey. She wore thigh-high black boots with a flowing black skirt. A grey knit sweater with black panels fitted snugly on her body. Her double tanto blades crisscrossed on her back with an iris flower as the guard. Other ninja tools were strapped to her boots and underneath her sweater.

This other boy had short and sleek auburn hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a brown trench coat with a shirt and black baggy pants underneath. His hands were in his pockets, as if he concealed them to pull a surprise.

She cheekily waved over at the other boy. "Hey! I just met you! But you're from the Mist village! Me too! Where have I seen you?"

He didn't answer.

"Huh? Why are you so mean?" Ayame glanced up at her sister. "Hana! Why is he so mean?"

"He is your opponent." Hana glanced over at her other teammate. "Is she really doing this now?"

"You're her twin sister. Why are you asking me?" Yuuichi sarcastically retorted.

She sarcastically glared back. "You know, sometimes I like confirmation!"

"Hana? You didn't answer my question?" Ayame asked again.

"Ayame!" Her twin sister called. "Focus on the match."

"What match?"

"The one you're in right now!"

"Oh… Okay Hana!"

"Let the match begin!"

Akai charged at her and nearly punched her in the face. But luckily, Ayame managed to dodge in time.

"Now he's hitting me!" She complained.

"Just fight!"

Ryuu gawked, "Wow…she is dumb!"

Kinako, Temari, and Shikamaru collectively stared Ryuu and scoffed in near sarcasm. If Shun was conscious, he would be rolling his eyes.

Ayame seemed a bit confused, until a couple shurikens flew right by her head. "Hey! I almost got killed! Since you're so darn mean..." Ayame pulled both blades and released a large cloud of fog. "I'm going to be mean back!"

Her teammates smirked. They knew that Ayame, in all her airheaded-ness and stupidity, now meant business. Once she began to fight, she was an ax-crazy machine. Hana was the only person alive to calm her down.

It enveloped the whole stage. Ryuu and Kinako had trouble seeing into the mess. Even Shikamaru craned his neck a little to see. And Temari's hand slowly inched towards her fan. Triple B was looking the closest by far since they knew the girl beforehand. They knew that their team was good and the first to arrive.

Even the proctors took notice of the intense fog.

"Naruto! I cannot see anything!" Rock Lee shouted over the speaker.

Naruto squint his eyes to try and make out the figures. But nothing showed up. "You and me both! I can't see anything in there!"

"Naruto! You have been to the Country of Water. Is it like this as well?"

"Oh yeah. Totally. My first C-rank mission ever! Once a Mist ninja attacked my team and everything was all fogged up!"

"Wow! How was the fighting style of a Mist ninja?"

"Hmm...If I remember correctly, they always attack when you can't see in the fog."

"But since both opponents are from the Mist, is it now pointless to use this tactic?"

"I don't know!"

"Naruto! The fog is clearing up!"

Ayame and Akai emerged from the foggy mist. Akai was a little muddy up the legs and the front of his shirt. In his hands were spinning balls of dirt and mud. Yet in Ayame's hands were two whips that replaced her tanto blades. They soon fell off once Ayame tossed the vines away in annoyance.

She cried, "Hey! You're supposed to be whipped!"

Temari shot a knowing look at Shikamaru.

"You are making me veryunhappy!" The girl growled and she held out both tanto blades. Irises flowered out of the blade, creating a bouquet in both arms. "Earth and Water combined! Flower Release: A Thousand Iris Eyes!" The petals flew out of each bouquet, floated to the top of the arena, and with her command, started striking down on the boy at all angles. Akai barely dodged the first set of petal blades, leaving cuts along his arms and legs. Even Ayame figured out that he was a slow fighter. She pounded him with even more razor sharp petals, controlling their every move with her eyes. She kept her eyeballs trained on Akai, marking his every move.

But he managed to dodge long enough to do a few hand signs and smacked the ground with his palm. "Earth Release: Sinking Swamp!"

Suddenly, Ayame's feet became entrapped in a pit of mud. She tried to free her feet, tried to jump, and even tried to send all her petals to cut up the swamp.

"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"

Ayame pulled together a sixteen hand sign technique in about a second. Her hands were a legit blur to all the spectators. All her petals flew up and disintegrated with the fireball, but enough to protect her from the onslaught. "Ha! I'm still in control! Die!" She took out both her blades and hurled it at him. All her petals followed after each blade, creating twin twisters at her opponent.

"There's a fox in the window."

"Where?" Her eyes suddenly turned.

Akai took this chance, leaped forward, and punched her head.

"Classic…real classic." Hana mumbled.

"Ughh…" Ayame groaned, lifted her head, and promptly set it back down.

"The match goes to Akai Kasunoko!" Rock Lee announced.

"Someone go pick up the girl!" Naruto also announced.

"I shall! As my duty as a proctor, I will ensure she returns safely to her fellow teammates!"

"Go ahead. I don't want to be stupid."

"No need." Hana replied.

Yuuichi yelled out, "We have candy!"

"Candy!" Ayame cheered and she quickly jumped back to life and up back to her teammates.

"If this was considered a match, I don't need to worry." Ryuu smirked and winked at Kinako. "Meaning it should be easy for you. So stop worrying."

She shot a look back. "If you were facing her, she would have you sliced into a million pieces."

"Your point?"

"She would beat you."

'Oh! She wouldn't!? Would she?" Ryuu looked for Shikamaru. "Do you think she'll beat me?"

"Yeah." What a short answer.

"Hey! The next match is about to start." Kinako patted on Ryuu's hand.

"Ugh…" Shun suddenly started to shift awake. "What's going on? What happened?"

"Two sand ninjas are fighting." Ryuu replied nonchalantly. Then he noticed that Shun woke up. "Hey! You're awake!"

Kinako exclaimed, "I thought you were knocked out for a whole day!"

Shun groaned again. "I was sliced, not stabbed. The dose wasn't that effective. So what happened while I was out?"

Ryuu pointed at the ditzy girl. "She lost her match." Another ninja went down. "Now that Sand guy just lost his match."

"I feel like I was just traveled across Konoha and back. Who was the girl's opponent? She looks like a strong fighter."

"What?" Ryuu gasped. "Why does everyone say that?"

Kinako pointed at a team of three boys. One guy was the one who fought Ayame, Akai. But he really just seemed bored about this whole thing. Another teammate, Kumori, was leaned against the railing, interested on who was going to fight next. Kumori's hair was teal and he wore a cap over his head. He wore a simply workout jacket, unzipped, and long trousers that tucked into his boots. And the last guy…keeled over.

"Sakura-chan. We need a medic in this room. One applicant has fainted. I repeat. An applicant has fainted." Naruto reported.

The pink-haired medic from before came in and checked up on the boy. She signaled for the proctors to cancel it and took the guy away.

"It seems that Tekiya is belatedly incapacitated from the previous stage and cannot continue." Rock Lee announced.

"I like this. Things are moving along quickly." Ryuu shot a look at Shun. "Your match was too slow."

"My match was not too slow!"

"Hana wins!" The other twin smirked as she left the guy in his genjutsu state.

"So she won in a minute…"

"Yuuichi wins! Wow! This is the first match I've seen to be won with one punch in one second!" Naruto exclaimed.

Shun scoffed, "Shut up."

"Boys." Kinako glared at both of her boys. "Ryuu-kun and I haven't started our matches. So please don't beat him up."

Ryuu and Shun both groaned and went back to watching a match between Kumori and a Sand guy. And Kumori lost by having his head slammed into a wall.

Ryuu laughed and pointed at Kumori's knock out and concussion. "Ha! I think that Akai guy is the only good one in that team."

"Ryuu-kun…" A scared Kinako shook his arm. "None of the Triple B has gone up yet. One of us might have to face them."

"Really?" Ryuu smirked as he confidently walked up to the railing and feasted his eyes on his future opponents. "If I were to choose who to beat up, I'd take on Megane because he acts like a smartass. I'll take on Kenji too because he's a jackass."

Shikamaru slowly reached out and smacked Ryuu's head. "Ryuu. You can only fight one opponent. And you can't choose who you can fight."

"But why!?"

Shun glanced between Shun and the mentioned ditzy girl who was currently stroking her short hair, giggling, and staring into the arena. That girl was definitely smarter. He then watched the screen for the next set of opponents.

_Tori vs. Ryuu Mizuno_

"I'm up." Ryuu eagerly jumped down onto the arena, ready to fight it out.

Temari watched as a Sand genin jumped down to face Ryuu. He held a staff and a small fan in his hand. She knew him. She taught him one-on-one once in Suna's academy to train his Wind Release techniques. The last time she saw him was probably one year ago when he was promoted to genin. "I know him. He's going to be a tough match."

"One of your students?"

"No. He was an Academy kid when I had my team. And you already know what happened to one of my members."

"Right." Shikamaru turned back to the fight. "I'm sure Ryuu can put up a good fight."

"Begin!"

"Ha! You're going down!" Ryuu confidently laughed, crack his knuckles, and made his sign. "Ice Release: Ice Needles!"

Tori equally smirked back. His tiny fan suddenly grew sharp spikes and he threw the thing like a giant shuriken. It whizzed past Ryuu's head, rebounded around, and smashed through every ice javelin thrown. All the ice reduced to the slush and snow. Ryuu dodged the backlash with ease and launched more ice. But this time, Tory sliced each with his staff and violently prodded Ryuu in the forehead.

Ryuu flew back and smacked against a wall. "Ow!" He struggled to stand up and glared back. "It's not going to be that easy to knock me down!"

"Really? Try this!" Tori spun his staff fast, then faster, then even faster. "First Rotation!"

Ryuu felt a slight breeze pass his ears. This guy is a Sand genin. Temari is from the Sand. He may be stupid, but even he could do this simple addition. This wind will hit him and he will be squished into the wall like a bug. So this smart genin jumped high into the air.

"Ha! Your wind is not up here!" Ryuu eagerly taunted.

"Your kid is stupid." Temari remarked.

Shikamaru nodded in agreement. "Pretty much."

"I win this match!" Ryuu kicked down for his head. "Haaa-huh?" Instead of flying for Tori's head, he felt he was getting sucked into a vortex. Ryuu's body barreled into the spinning staff and at twice the speed, he flew into a wall…again.

"You're dumber than that last girl." Tori remarked.

"Hey!" Ayame yelled. "Are they talking about me?"

Hana snarked back, "No. They're talking about the fox outside."

"Where?"

"Shut up!" Ryuu huffed, struggling to get up back to his feet. "I'm going to beat you! Know that! I am the best ninja this village has ever seen!"

He scoffed, "This village? I find that hard to believe if you're not even from Konoha."

The albino boy growled and sent a wave of water right at Tori.

But he merely dodged it and used his staff to hover back onto a new landing. He saw that Ryuu was still surprised and slack-jawed. "Don't be surprised. I've fought your people once before. Only one clan can create ice out of nowhere. What's someone like you doing here?"

"That's…That's none of your business! Ice Needles!" Ryuu angrily launched another barrage of ice.

Tori spun his staff and shaved all the ice coming at him. He slammed his staff against the ground; sending shockwaves into Ryuu's ringing ears. "Why should this village acknowledge you as their strongest ninja when you never even belonged here?" He took all his fans, assembled them onto his staff to resemble flaps of a dart, and chucked it at Ryuu. "Second Rotation!" He performed five hand signs and a tunnel of wind formed around the staff, making a monstrous twister aiming for a target.

"Ice Release: Crystal Ice Shield!" A shield enveloped Ryuu into a tight ball, protecting him as the winds shaved away the ice layer by layer. Soon, Ryuu appeared through the transparency of the shield. "Shut your mouth or I'll freeze it shut. I don't care what you think. You don't belong in this village either…you sand freak!"

"Alright then, boast all you like. It still counts against you." Tori took his staff and hoisted the contraption up to his back. The staff and fans, combined, turned into a glider for him to ride into the air. "Third Rotation!" He launched a combo of attacks this time. First, a large wind gust similar to Temari's triple moon attack. Then, along with another wind gust, the daggers hidden in his fans flew at high speeds. And finally, Tori chucked his staff right at Ryuu with another twister encircling it.

Ryuu's crystal ice shield took every blow…every possible blow. But the daggers and the winds and the staff all at once immediately shattered his shield. He felt his body thrown once again into the wall, leaving a large crater upon impact.

"Ryuu-kun!" Kinako cried out. She could see deep lashes in the walls around Ryuu. Blood seeped out onto his pristine white clothing and dyed up his white hair.

"You taught that kid well." Shikamaru remarked.

"I only taught him once. He just took my fans and made the techniques his own. That's why he's a tough match." Temari smirked back at him. "Don't you wish Shun was the one facing him?"

This time, Ryuu's body landed face flat onto the ground. He was struggling still, but he just couldn't get up. His arms and legs were weak at that point. Tori was leaning casually against his staff, waiting to strike the final blow.

"One…two…three…" Naruto silently counted under his breath.

Ryuu pushed it one last time and stood back onto his feet at last. Blood dripped slowly from the cracks of his lips, but he didn't care. He merely wiped it away and sent a series of death glares to his opponent. "I told you…I'm not going to lose to you. If you're trying to mess up my head, you're dead wrong! I don't belong anywhere. I know that. But it won't stop me from being the best ninja ever!"

"Impressive. You survived my final rotation attack." Tori launched into the air with his glider.

Ryuu blew a large gust of wind from his mouth. He managed to nick the latter wings of his staff. It only threw Tori off balance for a second, which is what he wanted. Ryuu quickly jumped above him. "Ice Release: Ice Needles! Attack!"

"Don't you have any other moves than that?" Tori swung his staff, cutting up all the needles aiming at him.

"It's not about the moves." Ryuu jumped down with him, wielding a giant ice cube forged from six ice shields and filled with water, and promptly trapped Tori into the prison. "It's how you use it. How do you like me now?"

Tori merely rolled his eyes and blew up some air for breathing room. "You're running out of chakra. You can't trap me here for long."

"You can't cut yourself out. You're running out too."

Rock Lee suddenly jumped enthusiastically out of his seat. "Wow! What a tense end to such a glorious fight!"

"You're going to love this Lee." Naruto pointed out. "After the both of them run out of chakra, they are going to fight with their fists!"

"I can feel their youth spilling from their fists of passion!"

"If I had to tell you, I got my money on the water boy."

"Why is that?"

"He has the makings of a true ninja…like me!" Naruto smirked.

"Well I think both will be wonderful ninjas!"

The two boys remained still. One was maintaining the air around him so he wouldn't drown and the other holding up his makeshift prison. Neither was willing to make the first, and potentially, their last move. And both of their chakra was slowly draining as this standoff drew out. Tori concentrated on keeping his chakra in check so that he wasn't wasteful. He could feel Ryuu's chakra escaping out of the ice prison. That kid sucked at controlling his chakra. On the other hand, Ryuu was actually tapping into his inner brain to use this time to formulate a strategy. From all the moments and long missions he spent with Kinako and Shun, their smart brains must have rubbed off on him…shit…

"I have no idea what I'm doing."

Tori scoffed. "I would be surprised if you did."

"I tried."

Tori sighed. "Let's do this. Both of our chakra is near zero. You let me out. I won't attack you. We separate and fight to the finish with only taijutsu."

Ryuu thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" He melted all of his ice.

Shun gaped at Ryuu's naivety. "Hey! That Sand guy can just attack him! I can sense a little bit of chakra in him!"

"No. He won't." Kinako smiled because she knew the truth. She liked that Tori guy.

Tori nodded and took a few steps away. He turned around to face his opponent. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Ryuu got into stance.

"They're going to fight!" Rock Lee yelled. "Get ready for a fight to the death!"

Naruto corrected, "Near death."

"Near death!"

Soon, both Ryuu and Tori launched at each other and fists were flying. Each fist was met with a block. Each kick was blocked in some form. They were fighting with the highest intensity and fire, drawing in every spectator into attention. In both of their eyes, they were fighting with their spirits. It's been so long since two people fought with a passion. It became nearly a dance. They danced, knowing where the other would step, and threw out their next move.

Finally, Ryuu found an opening on the other guy's feet. He quickly ducked when Tori threw his punch and pulled on the leg at the same time. Tori felt his body sweep onto the floor and landed facing up on his back. Ryuu was straddled on top of him with his fist ready for the final blow. But he wasn't doing it.

"What's with the hesitation?"

"Why would I need to hit you when I already won?"

They were both bruised up and cut up. Tori was probably the most injured seeing that most of Ryuu's hits got to him, even when he blocked a lot of them.

"Fine." Tori laughed and he shoved Ryuu off of him. He got up, wiped off the dust and dirt off of his clothes, and pointed at Ryuu. "This guy wins the match."

Naruto protested, "But you need to stay down for a minute-"

"Then I forfeit. We're both tired and I was going to lose anyways." Tori explained and held out two fingers for Ryuu. "Good fight."

"Good game." Ryuu shook on it.

They both departed back into their respective teams.

"Well…they're not dead." Naruto mulled about it, even though he did want to see a little knock-out. "Lee, you call it."

"I declare Ryuu Mizuno to be the winner!"

"Yay! Ryuu-kun!" Kinako cheered and gave her friend a big hug.

Shun was a bit more subdued in his happiness and relief since he merely gave Ryuu a congratulatory pat. "Good job, dude. That's one of the best fights I've ever seen!"

"I'm impressed, Ryuu." Shikamaru also said, giving one of his small, rare smiles.

"Ha! You know I'm good!" Ryuu cackled in glee.

Shikamaru felt his smile crack a little. If only he could wise up from that cockiness. He glanced over to where Temari was at the moment. She was with Tori, giving her congrats and a pat on the head.

"You fought well." Temari said.

"I tried to psychologically break him like you suggested. But I think the guy is a bit too stupid to let it get to him." Tori chuckled at what he just said. "But I fought fair-and-square. And that's all that matters."

"Proud of you." Temari nodded and returned back next to Shikamaru.

"You know, I've only seen you smile like that once." Shikamaru remarked.

"Don't get used to it."

"You're twelve years too late to say that."

In front of the bickering couple, the two kids were having a swell time watching their teammate recount his fight…even though they saw it.

"And I was like 'pow' right in the kisser!"

"We saw the fight, Ryuu. We know what happened." Shun groaned.

Ryuu merely shrugged and looked out onto the arena. "So who's left? All of Triple B hasn't gone so all of them are going to have to fight. Two Mist genins are left…and Kinako. Damn! That's going to suck; having to fight one of our classmates, even though I really want to. But not Sanae."

Shun's expression quickly darkened. All of Triple B was still waiting to fight. That meant Kinako was going to have to fight one of them or a Mist genin. She was going to have a tough match either way. If they were lucky, Triple B might have to fight each other and therefore, knock out their biggest competition.

"Hey Kinako! Fight Megane. He's an easy guy to beat up. All he did was play games in class." Ryuu suggested.

Kinako looked out to the bespectacled genin. "He's changed a little."

"Well would you rather fight Sanae or Kenji? Sanae can trap you in an illusion and it's automatically game over and Kenji can just beat you up like he did in the Academy."

"He's not going to beat her up." Shun dryly remarked.

Kinako frowned at that comment. "It was just one time…which he never apologized for…"

"Hey. She has a better chance facing one of Triple B since she knows them. What if she has to face someone outside of the village like us? You were knocked out after your match and look at me!" Ryuu pointed at all of himself covered in cuts and very dark and big bruises.

"Boys…" Kinako sighed. "I'll fight whoever I'll fight and I'll do my best."

Ryuu scoffed, "Like how? You can't do anything."

Shun whacked him for that comment. "Shut up Gate Jumper. You're going to make her cry!"

"Shun-kun! I don't cry!" Kinako blushed and retorted. "My name will come up and I will fight. Both of you better cheer me on!"

"Yeah." Both of them obediently responded.

"Quick! They're announcing the next match!" Kinako forced her boys to turn their heads to the screen.

"The next match goes to…"

_Kenji Ootashin vs -_

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><p><em>And that concludes a good 70% of the matches in the third stage. This chapter has more of a sitcom feel to it since all the genin fighting was ridiculous and Ryuu fucks around a lot. I included the first fight because those are the Mist teams that are important and fleshed out…sorta…I like Ayame since she's a little ditzy and fun. And pay attention to her opponent's name. The names of the important Mist teams are: Ayame, Hana, and Yuuichi and Akai, Kumori, and Tekiya. All my OCs have special names actually. Unfortunately, Tori is a one-shot character. Next chapter, you get to see the finish of the preliminaries! Review!<em>


	15. Sacrificed Win

_Here, you get to see the preliminary matches complete. And I think you'll be very surprised on what happens. My only comment…omg I'm still spazzing about the ShikaTema moment in the manga! What was that chapter even about?_

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><p><strong>Chapter 15: Sacrificed Win<strong>

A very disappointed Ryuu frowned as he sulked between the bars of the fence. Beside him, Shun was intently watching the match going on. And on the other side of him was Kinako, who was also watching the match. And below him were Kenji and some Mist genin fighting it out. Ryuu huffed and buried his head in his arms. He really wanted Kenji to fight his own teammate, even Sanae if possible. He knew Kenji since they were little kids; that former bully was tamed by her. He would never hurt the closest thing he has to a sister. And if Kenji and Megane paired against each other…it would just be fun to watch two assholes go at each other.

But…Ryuu quickly glanced over to Kinako. She was going to have to fight Sanae, Megane, or the remaining Sand genin. As her teammate, he knew she hated hurting her friends.

As Kenji dodged his opponent's attack, he pummeled back at the speed of light. He's gained the reputation of being the fastest and strongest genin of their year. The time it took for him to get from one place to another was about the same for Shun to transport to and from the same places. And to top it off, he developed a fighting style known for reflecting his enemies' attacks back at them with double the speed. Sanae dubbed it "bending the light".

Kenji performed six hand signs while his opponent prepared to launch a ball of wind. Once the wind came towards him, Kenji lifted his hands, caught the ball, and launched it back at twice the speed.

The large ball flew at the Sand genin, but he managed to dodge it completely! A gaping large crater exploded from the impact.

"Damn it! Kenji! You'll get him next time!" Megane cheered for his teammate.

"Kenji! Do your best!" Sanae yelled out and cheered in her screams.

Ryuu shot a look at his little family of ninjas. "How come you guys never cheered me on?"

Everyone shrugged.

"Come on! We're so dead compared to Chouji-sensei and his team!" Ryuu complained and pointed to the very loud team across from them. They must be letting all their excitement out since they were finally up to fight.

"Go for it Kenji!" Sanae yelled down to her little brother.

"Onee-san! Shut up!" Kenji snapped back up. "I can't concentrate!"

The Mist genin pounced at him, claws out and ready to tear him to shreds.

Kenji quickly dodged and ran out the end of the arena. He squatted down and performed ten hand signs. His palm suddenly lit up with light and planted his hand onto the ground. "Hidden Technique: Earth Shockwave!"

The guy running at him suddenly felt a push on his ankles. A strong push that made him trip, something unlike his excellent nimbleness. He flipped over and swiftly landed on his feet again.

"Hidden Technique: Air Shockwave!" Kenji launched another pulse from his hand, knocking himself over in the process.

This time, the Mist ninja took it all in his chest. He was pushed back a good ten meters before hitting the floor with a deafening crack.

Kenji struggled back up to his feet and he immediately launched himself back to his opponent. He went fast, faster, and even faster, to the point he became a blur. And in one blow, he punched his opponent in the chest where his shockwave previously landed.

The clothes of the poor genin blew out, leaving a bare back with a tremendous red welt. The Mist genin seemed to black out a little and he collapsed onto the ground.

"Wow Lee! That guy is almost as fast as you!" Naruto exclaimed. "Look at that monstrous strength! He can probably go up against Grandma Tsunade!"

"With my training, this boy will be a supremely amazing taijutsu fighter!" Rock Lee exclaimed and fire burned in his eager eyes.

Kenji looked down upon the genin he just knocked out. The guy was being loaded into a stretcher to be taken to the infirmary. He merely scoffed, cracked his sore shoulder, and jumped back to regroup with his team.

"Kenji. I think you nearly killed him." Sanae pointed at the poor genin, who now had blood coming out of his mouth.

"Nah. I aimed off his heart by a few inches." Kenji sighed and collapsed down onto the floor.

Chouji gave a nice, big congratulatory pat on the back, which pushed him back on his feet. "That was some good fighting there. I bet we're going to win this tournament even against Shikamaru's team."

"No kidding." Megane smirked. "Shun cheated his way out of his match. Ryuu's opponent gave up. They haven't even worked twice as hard as Kenji did. And their last fighter is Kinako Keiganu, noted for being the weakest graduate out of all of us."

"She also cries a lot." Sanae also pointed out.

"Hey. Hey. Exposing the enemy's weaknesses…" Chouji sternly reprimanded them. "Save it for the match."

"Sorry sensei!"

Kinako sadly stared at their fellow classmates. After watching Kenji's impressive display, even she felt a little scared that her skills were not enough. "They're talking about me, aren't they?" She softly said to her teammates.

"Don't let it get to you. Those two are just jerks." Ryuu said and stuck his tongue out at Megane and Kenji.

"Sanae said something about me."

"This is a fight. Everything matters, even what's going on in your head. Don't let whatever they say get to you." Shun pointed out. "And besides, that whole team is our competition. They are all going to be jerks."

Ryuu piped in, "Except for Sanae."

"Shut up! Your obsession with her is so annoying." Shun scoffed.

Ryuu smirked in response. "So what? You do not know how cringe-worthy your obsession with-"

"Shut up!" Shun whacked him across the head.

"Boys!" Kinako shushed them up and pointed to the screen. "They're going to show the next match!"

_Shima vs. Megane Yoshiya_

"Crap…that means…" Ryuu stared at a shocked Kinako and back at his longtime crush. "You're going to face Sanae."

"How can I face her? She was the second best in our class!" Kinako whimpered.

A concerned Shun asked, "Do you know how to break illusions?"

"A little…"

"That's all you need! As long as you don't get caught in her genjutsu, everything's going to be fine." Shun patted her on the back.

"Yeah! Now let's go watch the nerd's match." Ryuu pulled his friends to the rails.

Megane jumped off from his platform with his tablet tucked safely under his arm and he approached his opponent with a knowing nod. He did change a little. He now wore a button up white shirt covered with a tan sweater with blue lines. He still looked like he hasn't done a push up after half a year of becoming a genin. Also, he didn't seem interested in even looking at his opponent, preferring to use his tablet to check his stats.

"It's common courtesy to greet or at least, look at your opponent." Shima scowled at his opponent's rudeness.

"Hold on. I'm almost done." Megane tapped a few more things on his tablet. "Okay. So what do you want?"

Shima sighed. "You know what. Let's start the match."

"Alright! A match between villages!" Naruto jumped out of his seat in full excitement. "Let's start the match!"

"This will beat some sense in you, smartass!" Shima slammed his fist into the ground and mixed the particles with his mist, creating deadly smog that covered the entire stadium.

A single piece of dirt landed on Megane's tablet screen. "You made my tablet dirty…" He mumbled and then scowled as if the world just wronged him. "You're going to pay for that! Figuratively and literally! This thing costs me a whole month's allowance!" He tapped on his screen and turned it around, revealing a computerized seal. "Eat this!" A vacuum suddenly appeared, sucking in all the mist and dirt.

"What the-" Shima didn't even have time to react cause Megane pummeled at him like a maniac.

Kenji smirked as he watched his best friend kill it. "Go Megane! Dude! You can do it!"

"Megane! Fight as hard as you can!" Sanae cheered.

Kenji glanced across the room to see all of Team Five gape at Megane's sudden change of character. It was always fun to watch others react to it. Shun was surprised. Ryuu was really surprised. And Kinako was terrified. He was glad that Kinako wasn't matched with Megane. That boy wouldn't care if that girl was their friend; he'd still tear her apart if she ever dirtied his precious tablet.

He remembered the first time he received a beating from Megane for doing the same thing. It was by accident. He just spilled a drop of water on the thing! But Megane, in short, freaked out and pummeled him so much that Chouji had to step in. That guy was just a little bit obsessed with keeping his stuff clean. And Kenji saw this obsession in person because he visited Megane's place. Everything was so neat and clean! Dust did not exist! His weapons were neatly hung and organized by size and weight. His many computer stuff and technology were stored in their own closet of his room. Even his bed had two pillows sitting neatly side-by-side with a round pillow in the dead center. Order was the most important thing in this guy's life.

And Shima's recklessness just broke it.

"Haaa!" Megane yelled in his leap towards Shima.

Yet Shima simply blocked every move that came at him. He jumped into the air and released a bunch of kunai knives and shurikens. He must break that tablet! That thing was controlling every single part of Megane's moves.

"Dude! It's not that easy!" Megane smirked. He did four hand signs and lifted his hand. Snap! The lights went out.

"Wow!" Naruto's voice boomed into the arena. "Did that genin just turn out all the lights!? Impressive! Now these two have to fight in the dark!"

"Naruto! I am unable to see anything!" Rock Lee squint his eyes, confirming that they were now blanketed in darkness. "Fighting in the dark is difficult! You cannot rely on your sense of sight!"

Shima scowled at such a tactic. "You think the dark can scare me? I'm from the Mist! We fight with no eyes!"

"Let's see how you do." Megane's voice boomed out to the arena. Suddenly, a hundred glowing tablet screens scattered the arena, lighting it in an eerie glow. Shima's shadow stretched from one end to another as he stood in the dead center of the lights. Megane hid behind one of the many floating screens, his figure not seen by his opponent because of the blinding lights. "Try and find me. Hidden Technique: A Hundred Lanterns!"

Out of a bunch of random lit screens, prewritten seals formed and shot out a number of weapons. And some shot fire. Other's shot explosions.

"It doesn't matter how fancy your name is!" Shima turned around and charged. "You're there! I can hear your voice!" A shuriken flew out of his hands, but it merely smashed into the screen, shattering the glass.

"Moron. I invented this beautiful thing called a speaker! My voice can be there!" One corner of the arena boomed. "Or here!" That was another corner. "Or…everywhere!"

Shit! Shima jumped up into the air and levitated so he was out of the line of fire.

"Ha! You're so scared now! That's what you get for dirtying up my stuff!"

"What a neat freak!" Ryuu exclaimed. "I didn't know the nerd was this crazy!"

"Ryuu! I heard that!" Megane growled. "You're next!"

Suddenly, Shima shot down with an idea. He could dirty up all the glass screens and Megane would eventually pop out since he couldn't control his angry and reckless side. He slammed into the ground at full force, splattering all the screens with some kind of dirt.

Sanae gasped at such a move. "Is he trying to kill himself?"

"YOU!" Megane's chakra shot so violently that the lights began to flicker. "Stop! Doing! That!" Megane shot out of one of the screens that he hid inside and violently knocked Shima right in the back of his head. That was not all. Once Shima hit the ground, Megane started kicking him in the head. "Ha! You like that!? That's what you get for dirtying my stuff!"

"Ok. Megane. Stop it." Kenji jumped down and pulled his best friend away. This was what really happened when he dropped water on the tablet. "Calm down. Just calm down."

"Uhh…we might need a medic." Naruto glanced over at the poor guy's bleeding face.

"No! Sakura-chan! We need you!" Rock Lee called. "I declare Megane Yoshiya to be the winner!"

As Sakura came in and took away Shima, both Sanae and Kinako prepared for their battle. Kinako, as usual, was uneasy. She touched her ninja pack, feeling around for her special wires that Tenten gave to her. She even felt around her belt to see if her scrolls and other gear were stuffed in those slots. Sanae, on the other hand, kept her eyes on Kinako as she prepared to go into battle. She even pulled out her katana that she kept strapped around her waist.

_Kinako Keiganu vs. Sanae Amanashi_

"Don't hurt her too bad." Ryuu whispered to her.

She, in turn, scowled. "Who exactly is your teammate?"

"Ignore him." Shun knocked Ryuu away. "Just remember. Avoid her genjutsu at all cost."

"Thanks, Shun-kun." Kinako slightly smiled before jumping into the arena.

Sanae also began to step over the rail. "Don't worry little brother Kenji. I won't torture her too much."

Finally, the remaining two jumped down and faced each other for their battle. Everyone could tell the personalities of these two girls just by their stances. Sanae stood confidently, legs spread evenly apart, her body faced forward, and her hand clenched tightly on the hilt of her katana. Kinako stood awkwardly as she continuously shifted her weight between her feet. Her hands were kept hidden behind her, away from Sanae's eyes.

Shikamaru carefully watched his unfortunately weak student. He worried for her. Up until now, she was always one step behind her teammates. Even though she was a slightly better combatant than Shun, she lacked his expert strategy skills that could manipulate the weakest moves into a strong technique. And even though she was way smarter than Ryuu, she lacked his raw power that can easily overpower anyone and anything. Plus, her mild demeanor could prove to be a huge disadvantage to her. Shikamaru glanced over at Temari. She might need this woman to toughen out a little.

"Are you ready ladies?" Rock Lee began.

"Whoo! Cat fight! I can't wait to see this!" Naruto exclaimed, causing poor Kinako to redden in embarrassment.

"Begin!"

Sanae brandished out her katana and aggressively stepped forward. "Since we're now opponents, I can say this openly in front of you. Kinako, I never really liked you." She lunged at Kinako and stabbed at her.

Kenji was frowning the minute this match started. Sanae was pulling off her illusions now? She was a master of genjutsu that she would even turn herself into an illusion. She would become her enemy's worst nightmare, just to make them drop their guard. Bu was this going to work on Kinako?

Luckily, Kinako managed to dodge in time and she jumped up onto the railings. "Whoa!" Kinako felt her feet slip a little from the landing. But once she found her balance, Sanae was already charging up her katana with her chakra.

"You're not running away that easily!" Sanae swiped her blade, sending a chakra filled attack to slice Kinako.

"Eek!" And Kinako ran for it! She wobbled on the first few steps, but got into running full speed on top of a narrow railing.

And while that girl was running, the girl with the sword was sending more and more slices of her sharp chakra. It made deep cuts into the wall, sliced the railings cleanly, and nearly decapitated the viewers!

"Hey! Sanae! Try not to kill us!" Megane yelled as he ducked once again.

What the hell is that girl doing? Shikamaru kept his eye on his student at first…until he spotted a small twinkle on the railings.

"You can't run forever!"

Kinako got to the end of the arena and leaped to the other side. She ran again along this railing now while shooting a bunch of shurikens at her opponent. Yet Sanae easily blocked these and she swiped another chakra burst at Kinako's feet. Success! The running girl fell back down into the arena.

"Wow! Kinako Keiganu was knocked over! And she hit the floor pretty hard!" Naruto exclaimed. "Is this match already over?"

Sanae scoffed, watching the body hit the floor. "How pathetic." She stabbed her katana into the ground and knelt down to Kinako's level. "Are you ready to give up?"

"No." Kinako stood back up and even staggered a little upon her steps. She clearly had the wind knocked out of her after that fall. "And…Sanae-san…"

"Hmm?"

"You're such a liar." Kinako defiantly stared at her opponent.

"Heh. Nothing can get past you." Sanae smirked and swung her blade in a perfect circle. "Too bad. I got you."

"Huh?" Kinako saw a few petals and Sanae's image contorting into nothing. She glanced over to her side and saw that her arms and legs were chained down. Her neck was hooked into some train and her body was wrapped in chains. She wasn't even in the arena anymore. She was in some weird alternate universe where everything was swirly and distorted. She couldn't see or hear her friends. She couldn't see her teacher. She couldn't even see her opponent.

"Wow! Sanae Amanashi has shown her signature technique!" Naruto exclaimed. "An inescapable genjutsu!"

Rock Lee also said, "It looks like Kinako Keiganu is unable to wake up. Her genjutsu is truly inescapable!"

Kinako was now lying on her side, unconscious and unresponsive.

Kenji watched as his teammate calmly sat down and maintained her genjutsu. The torture was starting to begin. Nobody, except for him, has ever escaped from Sanae's genjutsu. Kenji only managed to break out because he was good at manipulating wavelengths. His forte was light waves. He could distort the light enough in the genjutsu to break it apart. And this was after many, many training sessions with Sanae.

"She got trapped…" Shun frowned at the sight.

Ryuu, on the other hand, remained quiet and watched the match. He was probably indecisive on whom to cheer and root for.

Temari glanced over at Shikamaru. She remembered twelve years ago that she gave him a speech about emotional control. He didn't seem to take that in mind. "What's with the worry?"

"I was afraid that her main weakness would be exposed in her match. Kinako has possibly the lowest self-esteem I've ever seen in my life. Sanae Amanashi will target that weakness. Now that she's trapped in a genjutsu, she will never get out." Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his head. "I don't get how females can be so self-conscious at that age."

"Shikamaru, why don't you try being a girl going through puberty to figure that out?" Temari scoffed and shot him a dirty look. "And you know what? I bet she will surprise us."

"How would you know?"

"Because I surprised you when we fought for the first time. You didn't realize I was smarter than you thought." Temari pointed out. "You may be one of the best strategists in Konoha…maybe the best ever. You can play a whole ninja army like shogi pieces and they wouldn't even realize it. But you still suck at getting to know people."

"Socializing…how troublesome…"

"Lazy bastard…"

Chouji, instead of watching his student fight, decided to keep his eyes on the obvious flirtation between his best friend and his ex-girlfriend. They were now on some sort of speaking terms, which was good…but he wondered if they still knew the boundaries between close friends and lovers. How would he know? He and Ino spent a good few years accusing them of dating each other ever since Ino caught them living together and they _still _denied it.

In fact, Ino was looking at this through his eyes. "Oooh! They're back together again!?" She squealed in pure delight.

"Look at them. Shikamaru's kids are right in front of them! They need to get a room." Chouji chuckled. "But I hear they will be getting one soon."

"They're glaring at each other. You and I both know that means they're in love again!"

"I think you're reading a bit too much into this." Chouji sweat dropped. "Anyways, get out of my head. I need to focus back onto my kid."

"Alright Chouji. Keep me updated."

"Will do." Chouji finally tore his eyes off the couple and went back to the fighting girls.

Kinako was still down. Her eyebrows tensed as if she was sleeping and experiencing a nightmare. And she was. In her mind, she tried over and over again to disrupt the genjutsu. She cried the same incantations repeatedly to break out. But everything remained the same and the chains began to tighten against her skin.

"Kinako. Don't try to struggle. It will just hurt you." A concerned Sanae said. "Look. If you give up, I will let you out."

"I'm not…giving up…" Kinako gasped. It was getting harder to breathe.

"Hmm…That iron will you have hidden deep in you…guys like that once they look past your freaky loner status." Sanae sighed.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, Kinako, you saw right through my lies. I actually feel sorry for you ever since you became a recluse from society after what happened with your mother…"

"Shut up! Please!" Kinako cried. She never wanted to relive that horrible memory.

"I don't hate you. And that's your worst nightmare: thinking that everyone wouldn't care about you one bit. And that's what caused you to become trapped in my illusions."

"Sanae-san…why are you telling me this?" Kinako gasped again from her heavy breaths.

Her opponent narrowed her eyes and chucked a knife at her, slicing Kinako's thigh. "Because, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm a little jealous. I like a guy…but you're the only person in his mind. And you can't ever see it for some reason"

"I don't know…what you're saying…" Really. She didn't know what Sanae just said. Her hearing just snapped and she merely got bits and pieces of that sentence. Apparently, Sanae was jealous of her mind for some reason? Was she jealous of her analyzing skills? Well…that was true for many people.

The pain of her bleeding ears and her tightening chains became unbearable now. Kinako bit into her lip hard. She drew some blood, but it was not enough to break the illusion.

"Hurting yourself is not going to work. You're going to have to stab yourself a hundred times to escape." Sanae said and she tightened her fist, tightening the chains as a result. "And if you did do that, you'll die."

"So that's what it's going to take…" Kinako sighed. She couldn't breathe. She heard something about stabbing herself a hundred times. She knew pain would break a genjutsu. If Sanae's genjutsu was really that strong, than that's how much pain it's going to take to break it. Using all her strength, Kinako began to force her arms together into one hand sign, resisting the chains that ripped apart her arms.

"What are you doing?"

Kinako gasped out her answer. "I'm taking this chance!"

"Look! Kinako Keiganu is moving her arm!" Naruto yelled so loudly in the silence. "Has she broken through the genjutsu?"

"Naruto! Above her!" Rock Lee pointed up towards the ceiling. A hundred tiny wires were fashioned into thin needles similar to acupuncture. And with each needle, there was a trace of wind chakra, sharpening the deadly metal up.

"Kinako! What are you doing? Don't do that!" Sanae grew alarmed and quickly loosened up the chains. As much as she wanted to torture Kinako into submission, she didn't want the girl dead. In the genjutsu world, a hundred knives were pointed at the trapped girl.

"So what? It's the only way I can escape."

"If you do this, you'll only kill yourself!"

Kinako weakly smiled. "Then…I'll die trying."

Ryuu gripped tightly onto the railings and finally broke his silence. "Kina-chan! Sanae-chan! Don't do this! Stop!"

Even Shun grew alarmed and he tried to jump the railings. But Shikamaru sternly held him back. There was nothing they could do.

And suddenly, a hundred needles plunged into the unconscious girl's body. Her pristine white clothes bathed in her blood. The needles tore through the olive tie that held her pigtails, unraveling her hair into a tangled mess. Every little strand of her hair dipped into the blood, dying the ends red. Her face scrunched into a grimace, followed by an anguished scream. Her bleeding fingers clenched and unclenched, as if it were a reflex of a recently dead person.

"I…I can't believe this…" Naruto gasped, shocked at the ordeal. Was this girl so desperate to escape that she would mutilate herself as a last resort?

Temari glanced over to Shikamaru. "You're surprised…"

Sanae finally snapped out of it and she hesitantly backed away from Kinako's bloody body. There were exactly a hundred punctures in her body and all were bleeding red. "You're a crazy fool…You bet your own life just to escape!"

Kinako gathered up all her strength and pushed herself back onto her knees. Her legs were too torn to stand on. But she was alive and breathing…and that's what mattered. The needles in her body fell out into a pile in front of her, all of which were covered in her blood. She breathed out, "I'll do whatever it takes…because I am a crazy fool…"

Sanae glared at her. This girl just became the second person alive to escape from her genjutsu. "I'll put you out of your misery!" Sanae drew her katana and charged at the downed girl. But once she neared a single foot in front of Kinako, once her blade was mere inches in front of her face, she felt a searing pain shoot up from both her legs. Sanae froze and glanced down. Silver wires, formed from the needles, were slicing into her legs, creating a bloody mess and entangling her into a clumsy stop.

"Now…I got you." Kinako did a couple hand signs. "Hidden Technique: Web Whirlwind!"

Shikamaru frowned at this outcome. Was this a new technique? She never performed this in front of him. She only did a lot of fancy wire work that nearly amputated his limbs, but nothing this elaborate. Shikamaru saw a couple more twinkles of light shine throughout the arena…and then he knew. "Shun! Ryuu! Get away from the railings!"

"Huh?"

Shit! Shikamaru reached out and pulled Ryuu by his scarf while Temari hugged onto Shun to pull him away. They were close! The wires attached to all of the railings tightened and sliced cleanly through the steel, carrying a couple hundred tons of metal right at Sanae. And that was not all. Parts of the concrete mezzanine fell apart, causing other genin to jump to safety. So that was why Kinako wasted time running on the railings like a fool. She was betting her win on this one technique!

The sharp metal and concrete all headed towards Sanae as Kinako controlled the movement in the center of her web. The wires wrapped around Sanae and then, the trajectory pinned down her arms and legs and body. She was ultimately trapped under a monstrous pile of destruction. And she was ultimately…the loser.

"I declare Kinako Keiganu to be the winner!" Rock Lee shouted. "We need medical assistance!"

"Body Expansion Jutsu!" Chouji expanded his hands and quickly removed all the crap piled on Sanae. His student was surprisingly not injured at all!

Sakura immediately bolted out and began her healing on poor Kinako, who collapsed onto the floor. Since she just took in a hundred deep, yet tiny, puncture wounds, the damage wasn't that bad and should be quick to heal. It was just very painful. Kinako crazily squirmed when each wound healed and she was crying tears of pain.

"It's okay. It's okay." Sakura soothed the crying genin. "That was the riskiest move I've ever seen. You should be glad you didn't damage your body too much."

"Sakura." Shikamaru appeared before them. "Is my kid going to be alright?"

"She's going to be fine." Sakura quickly finished her work and gently picked up Kinako. "Those needles also punctured all of her pressure points. She can't really move right now."

"Okay." Shikamaru took her into his arms.

"Keep your eyes on this one. Don't let her attempt this trick again." Sakura warned. "Next time, she may not be so lucky."

Shikamaru nodded and headed back upstairs. Ryuu and Shun worriedly crowded over their tired teammate. One was in hysteria while the other was really, really, really concerned.

"Kina-chan! What were you thinking? That was too crazy!" Ryuu exclaimed and knocked her on the head.

"Ow…I'm still in pain Ryuu-kun!"

"That was for worrying me so much!"

Shun just gently patted her shoulder as he was at a loss of words. But he, like his friend, was just as worried.

Temari gently ruffled Kinako's messed up chestnut hair. She even combed out the mess a little for the girl, allowing Kinako to look a little bit presentable. "That took a lot of guts. You'll make a fine kunoichi."

"Th-Thanks…" Kinako blushed. She always got so flustered from simple compliments.

"Don't believe everything this woman says. She once told me that I would make a good Hokage." Shikamaru suddenly said to the girl in his arms.

Kinako innocently and earnestly replied, "I think you would."

"Ha!" Temari smirked.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Rock Lee were preparing the chart to match up the remaining finalists. Naruto finally turned around with a small pouch.

Rock Lee called out, "Will the remaining genins please come down to the stage?"

Akai, Hana, Yuuichi, Kenji, Megane, two Sand genins, and all of Team Five went down. Since Kinako couldn't move, Shikamaru carried her down.

"Shikamaru. You trained a remarkable team." Rock Lee complimented, obviously very impressed by what he saw in these three ninjas.

"Thanks."

Naruto cleared his throat and began, "I have a pouch of numbers from one to ten. You will take one number and announce the number you get."

Akai drew number one. Yuuichi drew number eight. Hana drew number five. Kenji drew number two. Megane drew number four. A Sand genin drew number seven. The other Sand genin drew number nine.

"Ten." Ryuu announced.

"Six." Shun said.

"Three." Kinako read off the paper in Shikamaru's hand.

Naruto wrote down all the names onto a scroll and turned it around. "Here are your matches for the final rounds. The numbers are in no particular order."

They all read down the list of matches. One match was between Ryuu and Akai.

Ryuu awkwardly glanced at the Mist genin. That guy was too stoic for his taste.

The next match was between Megane and Yuuichi. Kenji and a Sand genin followed afterwards. Hana was going to fight the other Sand genin. And most shockingly…

Kinako and Shun glanced at each other.

They were going to fight.

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><p><em>Drama! Look at all this action! Wow! And that concludes the preliminaries. Writing Kinako and Sanae's match was probably the hardest thing for me since everything was psychological. Kenji is still a hard ass fighter. And Megane…you didn't see that coming now did ya? And with the matching up, there's going to be a shitload of drama between Shun and Kinako. And Ryuu has to deal with his Mist background once again. After this chapter, I want to delve into their individual families and ShikaTema relationship is just going to grow stronger since Temari is sticking around for an entire month. I already have it planned out. They are going to be in Shika's place, one room, one night, etc. And did anyone catch that Hokage comment? Eh? Chapter 641? I'm still spazzing like crazy! It's so fucking obvious! Just let them fuck already! Ahem…please review!<em>


	16. Backgrounds

_So I wanted to delve into the backgrounds of each genin, I'm going to introduce each genin's family. You get to know where each kid comes from and Shikamaru and Temari are commenting about it this whole time. And they get a moment together. It's cute. But, on a more serious note, I like having the original characters around and constantly looming over our main genin because the main theme is the theoretical "Will of Fire". Even though Ryuu, Shun, and Kinako are the main subject, the Konoha 12 has a more prominent impact on the story._

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><p><strong>Chapter 16: Backgrounds<strong>

Once the preliminary matches were over, everyone was instructed to train for a month and come back to do their final rounds. So after Shikamaru and Chouji chatted and offered their congratulations, Shikamaru and Temari walked their three genins back to their homes. They desperately needed some rest. However, throughout their walk, Shun and Kinako haven't spoken one word to each other ever since they found out they were opponents. Ryuu kept himself busy by annoying Shun. And since Kinako couldn't walk, she merely rested her head against Shikamaru's shoulder while he carried her on his back.

"Okay! We're here!" Ryuu dramatically pointed at his small apartment on the third floor. There was a gate that separated this building from the streets. And behind the gate were a small urban garden and some unused pots.

"Wow. It's as drab as the last time I've been here." Shun deadpanned, clearly unimpressed.

"Shut up! Dead Last! It's the first time Temari-sensei and Shikamaru-sensei and Kina-chan have been here." Ryuu stuck out his tongue.

Suddenly, a woman walked down to the front gates and opened it for the crew. She was tall and quite youthful. Her eyes glittered of cerulean blue and her platinum blonde hair shone in the light. Her pale skin glowed in the stark light as if she were a firefly. She was dressed in a simple white and ivory kimono. Her hair was tied into a French braid. A small crystal ornament hung on the side of her head. She seemed like she came straight out of the snow, carved perfectly into the ice. She gave a small, gentle smile and softly said, "Hello there. Ryuu, is this your team you always tell me about?"

"Yeah Mom! This is Kinako and Shikamaru-sensei!" Ryuu said. "And you already know Dead Last."

"Hello, Ryuu's mother." Shun politely greeted.

"Shun. How nice to see you! I remember when you were just five years old when you came over for the first time." She patted the boy's head. "And you can just call me 'Yukie'. It's nice to finally meet Ryuu's team."

"Wow…" Kinako gazed at the woman. "You're really pretty!"

The albino boy jumped back and exclaimed, "Kinako! That's my mom!"

"Why thank you. That's really sweet." Yukie then glanced at Temari, who was just awkwardly standing on the side. "And you must be…?"

"Temari. I'm an ambassador from the Sand." Temari replied and shook the woman's hand. She was freakishly cold.

"Well, it's a little late, but would you like to come in and chat?"

"No. I'm afraid it's a little late." Shikamaru shifted Kinako's weight to one side and he took out a scroll. He chucked the scroll to Ryuu. "Here Ryuu. You earned it."

"Thanks man." Ryuu smirked and began to head up with his mom. "Hey Mom! Did you know that I'm really from the Yuki clan?"

"You don't say?" Yukie handed him a fresh glass of water and while she was at it, she popped in a few ice cubes out of her own hand.

"Hey Mom! You have the kekkei genkai too!"

"Ryuu. Honey. Kekkei genkai pass through blood. You inherited it from me." Yukie weakly smiled and patted her son. Some things just never got through her son's helmet head. "Let's have some dinner. You're probably hungry."

The crew began to walk away from the small apartment. Kinako clung onto her sensei as she mumbled, "Ryuu's mother looks like a snow woman from the legends. She's so pretty that she can play the role."

"That's just a myth." Shikamaru reassured the girl.

"You think she's beautiful too." Kinako pointed out.

"Ahaha…" Shikamaru nervously chuckled as he glanced off to the other female companion. She was merely just unresponsive, more interested in the shops they were walking by rather than the group. But he could still sense it…that building anger ready to explode…

Next, they started walking in the direction of Shun's house. Shikamaru knew a little bit about the Tetsuya complex. They lived in a pretty large house complete with a garden and a koi pond and a three meter high stone fence. The Tetsuya family seemed pretty loud as well since Takeru was fucking around as usual and Sojiro seemed to be slightly amused by the antics. When the two brothers spotted the crew, they both bolted to the door.

"Yo! What's up!? Why is Kinako on your back? I thought that was your job, little bro." Takeru smirked and gave his brother a good beating to the head for no particular reason. "Oh wait! She's your opponent! Haha! Too soon?"

"Knock it off Take!" Sojiro pushed his younger brother out of the way. He was a noticeably taller and older man around the same age as Temari. He gave a short nod to both Shikamaru and Temari. "It's good to see you again. Shikamaru-san and Temari-san. How were the Chunin Exams?"

"I thought Takeru already filled you in." Temari glanced at a somewhat guilt-ridden (not really) middle brother.

"You expect this kid to tell the truth?" Sojiro knocked his brother just for good measure. "But I know our baby brother made it to the finals. And fainted."

Shun darkly chuckled and balled his fists. There goes his brothers once again; humiliating him at every chance they got. Takeru was a given. He just enjoyed making other people miserable in his trickster ways. Sojiro, on the other hand, was a person with manners and kindness, as well as, loyalty. He babied his younger siblings, even though he was the strongest and outclassed them in everything. He was an ideal son for this family. But he had a rather discreet way of humiliating Shun like the time he told everyone in Konoha how Shun wetted the bed in the form of "story time".

"That's pretty much what happened." Shikamaru shrugged and pushed Shun to his brothers. "Remember, you have special training tomorrow."

"Right. See you tomorrow." Shun waved, not bothering to look behind him.

"How harsh Shun." Takeru chastised his baby brother and tripped the boy while he was at it. "I know she's your future opponent, but that's no reason to act like a jerk to her. Unless, you want to lessen the pain of facing her in battle because knowing my little brother, you don't like hurting anyone, especially her." He analyzed the glare Shun was giving him and smirked. "Yep! I'm right!"

"You sneaky bastard!" Shun would have punched that annoying guy's brains out had it not been for Sojiro holding him by his collar.

Sojiro set him down and smacked Shun and Takeru across the head again. "There's no need to start fighting. We're in the house right now. Dad's going to get mad."

"There's no need for physical fighting, Big Bro. That's all you ever do." Takeru mumbled as he rubbed his head. "I'd rather use the art of language to dissuade opponents. And it makes me look smarter and good looking to the ladies."

Shun scoffed in his usual sarcasm.

"By the way, who's Ryuu fighting?"

"This guy named Akai Kasunoko."

Takeru froze and stopped grinning. He knew that guy. He found that guy. "That's harsh. That guy is in a team that killed a genin in the second stage. Ryuu's caught himself a tough one."

Shun slightly grew alarmed, but maintained his usual stoic nature. "So what? Ryuu can beat up a guy like him."

"Just saying…" Takeru repeated, this time, in a more sing-song manner. He could feel Shun's glares of fire burning a nonexistent hole.

"Anyways, let the family baby rest for now." Sojiro said.

"Stop calling me a baby!"

Even the remaining three, Shikamaru, Temari, and Kinako, could hear Shun's anguished screaming. Kinako shuddered at the voice. He seemed pretty pissed. And she was going to fight him soon.

"You look a little scared, Kinako." Temari said.

"Oh! It's nothing!"

"Hey Kinako. Where exactly do you live?" Shikamaru asked as he propped up the girl on his back. "I only know the location of your bakery shop."

"I live right above it." Kinako pointed to the small apartment. The shop was already closed and the lights were off. Interestingly, the lights of her home were also off. Kinako pointed down to a flower pot at her shop's front door. "The key is under that pot."

While Temari retrieved the key, Shikamaru concentrated on the lack of a presence in that apartment. There wasn't a single soul in there. Was that normal? "Where is your father, Kinako?"

"Papa's probably out of town getting supplies." Kinako replied and she pointed up the stairs in the back of the shop. "Those stairs lead me up to my apartment. The room on the left is my room."

"Here. I'll take her." Temari lifted Kinako into her arms and brought her up the stairs.

Shikamaru stayed back since it'd be awkward for him to intrude in a girl's room. So he focused his attention on the bakery shop. He saw the counter and the glass windows that were supposed to hold the goods. The shop windows were outfitted with floral arrangements and weddings cakes. There were small tables and chairs for customers to sit and enjoy their snack. And then, there were pictures of cute animals, food, and Kinako and her father. Except…these were all individual pictures. And Kinako's mother was mysteriously absent even though her name was listed as the founder of the shop.

"I put her to bed." Temari announced once she came back down. They both promptly exited the premises and locked the doors.

"Temari. Did you get a good look around inside?"

"I saw a few portraits and the general layout. It looks normal…but I can tell that her father doesn't really stay in the house often. And also, there weren't any pictures of her mother." Temari wasn't smiling. In fact, she felt pity for the girl.

"I wouldn't be surprised since she was adopted by him. But I didn't expect the family situation to be bad."

"Adopted?" Temari questioned. "She was an orphan?"

"Yes…and no." Shikamaru grumbled and scratched his head. "It's a bit complicated to explain."

"It's a long walk back to your place."

"Eh!?" Shikamaru suddenly stopped. "You're not staying at an inn?"

"I couldn't find one in time since Lady Tsunade's order was so sudden." Temari retorted. "Besides, it's not like it's the first time I've stayed over. And it's only for one night."

"But-it's too-ugh! Troublesome woman."

"Shut up. We're not doing anything so stop acting weird." Temari grumbled. "And I'm taking the bed. Enjoy the floor."

He scoffed, "Women…"

"You're too lazy to buy a couch. I've been telling you since forever, so don't complain to me."

"Yeah. Yeah. Whatever."

"So how much do you know of your genins' background?"

"Just what they debriefed me and my own observations." Shikamaru answered. "You already know Ryuu and his mother came from the Land of Water. Due to tensions in that country and their own withering clan, those two came here as refugees. They've been living well ever since. Also, Shun's family situation is good as well."

"I know that. He just has sibling issues. It's not that different from Kankuro and Gaara and I."

"I wouldn't blame him. The middle one gives me a headache." Since Kurema and Takeru were friends, Shikamaru often saw that Tetsuya brother. The first thing Takeru did, in the presence of his best friend's mentor, was to go flirt with Temari. That move ended with Shikamaru holding him in place while Temari whipped him with some fan wind. And Takeru deemed Temari as "too scary" from that day.

"Anyways, what about Kinako? I can tell she has it the worst out of the three."

"Kinako is the biological daughter of her single mother. That means her father now is her stepdad. They got married when she was four and divorced when she was six. Unfortunately, her mother is gone now and Kinako fell into her stepdad's custody."

"She's better off alone." Temari grumbled. "My dad was shit. I know how a father like hers would work."

"We don't know everything. Don't easily make assumptions." Shikamaru pointed out. "Besides, she would have really become an orphan if her stepdad didn't take her in. And she's been managing well so we really can't do anything."

"You're her sensei. Has she been doing well?" Temari shot him a questioning look.

"I guess I'll find out tomorrow." Shikamaru merely shrugged.

As they neared closer to his place, Temari felt her palms starting to sweat. She hated this annoying habit. Anytime she was nervous, she'd start breaking out in sweat. It used to happen all the time when people started accusing her of dating Shikamaru. Then, it happened when she was caught in public with him. Then, it happened when she started spending time alone with him. One time, he taught her how to play shogi and they were in a middle of a game…until Ino and Chouji awkwardly barged in. Temari had quite a hard time holding the pieces afterwards.

Temari glanced up the large, wooden complex. Shikamaru decided to move out of the Nara estate since his mother deemed him "too old" to be living with parents. She remembered his apartment being on the top floor. Why? Shikamaru wanted the shortest distance to the roof. And he often traveled up those many flights of stairs by having Temari fly him in. And when she wasn't around, he'd make Chouji into his personal elevator. His apartment composed of a few rooms. The big room was the living room and kitchen. His bedroom and bathroom were next to it. And there was a large balcony. Most of the shogi action happened on the balcony.

"Hey. It's still a bit early. Let's play a game of shogi." Temari said as she entered into his house. If her memory was correct, the board should be somewhere in his bedroom closet.

"Shogi? You've played me over a hundred times and I still beat you." Shikamaru groaned, but nonetheless, he got out the board.

Temari huffed in his deadpan response. "I've been practicing. It's a good strategy warm-up. Besides, no one can match up to you so I bet you're out of practice."

"Well…I've found someone…"

"Who?"

Shikamaru merely remained silent and turned his head away. This was embarrassing! Ever since his father and Asuma died, the best person that could potentially match up to his level was Temari. And once she left, he found the next best person. "Naruto Uzumaki…"

Temari stared at him in a mix of shock and surprise. Then, laughter and giggles came out and she was keeling over on the floor in seconds. "Hahaha! That was the best one you could find? He doesn't even know how to add!"

"I don't know why. In all his eternal stupidity, he just happens to excel in shogi for some reason." Then again, Naruto strangely excelled in tactical thinking whenever in battle. This game was also just warm-up for him. But Shikamaru wished the guy would stop dirtying his board with ramen.

"Is he better than me?"

"No."

"Then you're out of practice." Temari sat down on the other side of his short round table. "Let's play."

And so they played out their shogi game. Both Temari and Shikamaru were expert strategists. Their moves were composed of fifteen minutes of thinking before they even moved the pieces. Temari knew how to play this kind of game with him. He probably thought out the whole game and was just waiting for Temari to fail according to plan. Temari just needed to make the most unpredictable moves so he would have trouble readjusting his plan.

Soon, after knocking out a few pieces equally, the clock turned to ten.

"So Shikamaru, who are you betting to win between Shun and Kinako?" Temari asked during the game.

"I can't exactly play favorites."

"It's just you and me, Shika." Temari gently said. "I think Kinako can surprise you again."

Shikamaru contemplated his answer as he moved another pawn. "At the moment, Shun is the stronger competitor. But who knows?"

"You have that tendency to favor the smarter ones." Temari suddenly became a little bitter. They've conducted many Chunin Exams together. Whenever betting came in, Shikamaru always chose the smarter one. "This came up during the match with your student and mine."

"I thought we were past that." Shikamaru slowly grew annoyed of this troublesome woman. Why was she always thinking of that year?

"How can we be past it when the final rounds are in a month? Everyone knows what happened between you and I. The poor victim's family could be watching."

"Hey Mari." Shikamaru reached out and tapped her right cheek. "Stop thinking. First of all, it's my team that's on the chopping block and you're the one holding the knife. Everyone is going to focus on my students and not your mistakes."

"And what if something happens?" Temari retorted, but then sighed it off. "Ugh…fine. I'll try. There's never a use of thinking in the past."

Shikamaru suddenly suggested, "Why don't you try thinking of something positive from that day? Like how Takeru messed with one of your students during their match."

Temari shot him a glare and flicked him in the forehead. "How is that positive? She was so embarrassed!"

"By the way, what happened to the other two?"

"They became chunins in a separate exam." Temari explained. "The third one's locked up in prison where he belongs. Ugh! I still can't believe he tricked me just to get the rank."

"Hey. Hey." He stopped her from remembering again. This was pointless. Anytime they tried to talk of that day, it always circled back to the incident. "Let's continue our game."

They played a bit more for around twenty minutes. Temari kept evading him as much as she could, but even so, she knew what would be the end game.

"You did improve a little." Shikamaru complimented at last, before placing his piece down before her king. "Checkmate."

Temari grimaced as he took her king. There went her days of practice. She was hoping she'd last a little bit longer until Shikamaru beat her. It was getting too late to start another game. "Fine. I'm tired anyways." She retreated back into his room.

She practiced many times just to have a rematch? Shikamaru smirked as he packed up his game. Why didn''t she just admit that she missed him? He already did. But then again, everything that ever happened to them, he did first. Even when they began their sort-of-not-really relationship after the war, he admitted he felt something more after two years. She tried to deny it, but even she fell through two years later. Was it really up to him to initiate everything?

So was it up to him to repair whatever was left of them?

_OoOoO_

"Ahh!" Ryuu yawned. His mom made him such a nice dinner, which he missed so much after six days of this exam, and he got a good night's rest. But Shikamaru made them meet up early for their training. He stumbled upon both his teammates. "Good morning!"

"Morning." Both of them replied.

Kinako was kneeling on the side, not even facing Shun, picking out the grass on the ground. Every time she glanced over at him, she'd see him press his fingers against his forehead. She knew this tactic very well. It meant he was thinking. Was he plotting of a way to take her down? She could see that Shun could be ruthless when it was necessary. He even stabbed a girl!

Shun finally stopped whatever he was doing and glanced at his future opponent. She was staring into the ground in her usual spaced out manner. It seemed like she was nervous for today since her pigtailed braids were messily done and her clothes seemed a bit disfigured. Even the strapless top underneath could be seen…which was where he was not looking! But still…she was nervous. He was supposed to beat this girl in a battle!? Poking her with his finger would be enough to make her lose! He wouldn't even dare to pull out the same moves he did on that cat girl! Plus…what was she going to think of him?

Ryuu sat between his teammates and remarked, "Hm…you're both dead. I'd be too if I had to face a teammate. I feel bad for you guys! So awkward!"

"Your opponent killed a guy in the second stage." Shun shot back.

"What!? Really!?"

Kinako slightly chuckled at Ryuu's surprised jump. And Shun seemed satisfied that she was at ease for a little while.

Finally, their sensei arrived, but alone this time. That was weird. They were so used to Temari's presence that it was strange to see him alone like their beginner days. Temari was basically their second sensei at this point.

Shikamaru observed his team dynamics. Obviously, Shun and Kinako were just awkwardly sitting around. Ryuu looked terrified, probably because he heard what his opponent was capable of doing. "Okay. Before we start, I'd like to congratulate you all for making it to the final rounds. It's one of the hardest tasks any genin can do. So for that, I congratulate all of you." That won a smile on everyone's faces. "Now, to business, since Shun and Kinako are going to face each other, they're going to be trained separately and they can't see each other for a month. The same goes to you, Ryuu, since you might end up facing on of them. So I arranged for separate trainers for the three of you. Kinako, come with me."

"Me?" Kinako staggered back to her feet and raced after her departing sensei.

"What!? Kinako gets to train with you!" Ryuu gasped, "That's totally not fair! Now she's going to really beat you dude!"

"Don't worry. Your personal trainers will be here and you won't be disappointed." Shikamaru calmly walked away even though his kids were planning to off him for choosing favorites. But then...he didn't really tell the time to meet his kids to their teachers. "By the way, your trainers tend to be late so just stay there!"

"What!?" Ryuu stared at his sensei in surprise before looking back at Shun in shock.

"Oh! Just drop it!"

"Shikamaru-sensei...I don't think the boys are comfortable with you playing favorites." Kinako said as they walked down the streets of Konoha.

"They'll get over it."

The boys were left in the outskirts by the training fields. They ventured away from the commercial markets and into residential area owned by different clans. Kinako glanced at all the different clan symbols. She was a little envious at these tight families. Her mother was an unaffiliated ninja. And since she died while married to a villager, they weren't associated with a clan by whole. They finally arrived to a large house with a large pasture.

"Sensei, where are we?"

"The Nara estate." Shikamaru simply said and led her through the large gates and towards one of the training halls. There sat one person waiting for them. "Kinako, I'd like you meet one of my pupils. Kurema Sarutobi."

Kinako smiled at this new guy. He had a gentle face. "Hi! It's nice to meet you. I'm Kinako Keiganu."

"He's going to be your personal trainer."

"Huh?" Her confusion was evident. "But I thought you were going to train me?"

"I never said that." Shikamaru flatly stated.

"But-But...why didn't you tell me? Or Shun-kun and Ryuu-kun? They're both wrongly jealous of me now!" She can't believe their sensei would trick them!

"This is not a sparring match, Kinako. This is a competition. A minor rivalry should make you guys train harder." Shikamaru strictly explained before turning back to his star pupil. "Kurema, I'll leave her to you."

"I understand."

Kinako haughtily stared at her sensei. Even if he wanted them to fight seriously, there was no excuse for this unneeded animosity. She can barely even look at Shun without it turning awkward! Now Shikamaru wants her friends to hate her? Screw him! She took a huge puff and screamed, "Shikamaru-sensei! Temari-sensei stayed over at your house last night and I bet she hasn't found your dad's porn stash under your bed!"

"Wha-!? You sneaky, little, troublesome-"

"Eek!" Kinako bolted away.

"Hey! Hey! It's okay! It's only us two." Kurema held back his sensei.

"You haven't told anyone?"

"Of course not!" Doing that would suspend his free access to rare, mint-condition porn goodness. "But I have to say, she's good."

"Yeah, be careful with this one." Shikamaru patted his pupil's back and departed from the premises. However, once he made it past the front door, he sensed an ominous presence behind him.

"Porn stash?"

Crap.

Temari boldly went up to him, fan drawn out to the highest moon. "How long did you have this hidden? Was it there after the war? It was there for over ten years! Damn you! Was my body not enough, huh? Did you think that lowly of me, huh? We fucked on top of that, damn it!"

"Why are you mad? We're not even dating!"

"You're dead! Wind Release: Six Moon Strike!"

Kinako saw twin twisters emerge out of nowhere and travel a good distance of destruction. Damn...she didn't realize Temari was there. Now her sensei was really going to kill her!

Kurema finally found the girl hiding out on a patio. "Hey kid. You alright?"

"Shikamaru-sensei is not that mad at me...?" Kinako whispered, nearly ready to cry.

"Nah. But now that Temari-san found out, he probably has to throw it out. My source is now gone. You know anyone else with a stash?"

"Takeru Tetsuya has a few magazines in his closet." Kinako mumbled.

"Great! You've paid for your training. Come along, Kinako." He grasped onto the girl's tiny hand and led her out to the forest. "Shikamaru-sensei chose me to train you because, for one thing, we have the same elemental chakra. And that we have a similar fighting style." He pulled out two trench knives that hooked into his hands. They were sharp blades with teeth. And with one throw, he destroyed a tree.

But as Kinako observed the blades, she noticed the chakra type running through it and the intensity of the sharpness. "That's made out of the same metal as my wires!" She pulled out a few spools of her special wires. "Tenten-sensei gave these to me. Am I going to spar with you?"

"Yes and no." He put away his weapon. "Half of it is basic sparring and the other half is playing that." Kurema led back her back to the house where a game board was set.

"Shogi? I don't know how to play shogi."

"I'll teach you. I'm not that particularly good either."

"How is playing a board game going to help?" Kinako frowned.

"You will see…" Kurema knew this was going to be trouble…for him and for her. Shikamaru warned him. Well, she was going to have to play whether she liked it or not.

_OoOoO_

More than four hours later, the two boys were still sitting in the field. Shun was reduced to drawing scrolls with ridiculously hard and useless seals. And when he got really bored, he summoned a few books from his room. Ryuu…was making an ice sculpture…He just finished carving his signature into a dragon's tail.

"This sucks!" Ryuu angrily chucked his knife at a tree. "Kinako's probably training her ass off and we're just sitting here! I want some action! I want to punch something!"

"Lay one finger on me and I'll transport your fist back to your mother." Shun said with a deadly hint.

"Aren't you a little jealous? Shikamaru picked Kinako over you?" Ryuu snickered. "Well, now we know why you're Dead Last, Dead Last!"

"Oh, you're so _not_ funny." Shun rolled his eyes and continued painting in his seals.

"But you know…I'd really like to see her reaction if you sock her in the face. Wow, that'd make you worse than Kenji!"

Shun's brush just snapped.

"I mean, that jerk teased girls but he'd never physically hurt them. He's actually a pretty chivalrous guy now that I think about it." Ryuu smirked as Shun fumed at every remark. "You know what? I think girls like that kind of guy nowadays: a troubled, rough guy who's actually a sweet person underneath. And knowing Kina-chan, she probably knew that already. Maybe that's why she was acting so chummy with him during the second stage?"

"Hey! Can you shut up?" Shun annoyingly shouted. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

"Okay! Okay! Geez, you're so cranky. Are you jealous? I mean, I would too since Sanae is basically in love with you. But at least I keep my emotions in check. Every time you hear Kinako and Kenji's name together, your jealousy knows no boundaries."

"I'm not jealous of anyone." Shun flatly stated. "And Kinako is just my teammate."

"If you say so…" He seriously doubted that.

They sat together for a few more minutes doing their own thing until they heard two voices. One voice was low and serious with tenor ring. The other was also manly, but more carefree and light.

"I can't believe Shikamaru didn't tell us the time to meet his kids. I wonder if they're pissed at us."

* * *

><p><em>Who are the mysterious trainers for Ryuu and Shun? And I like the shogi thing going on. Also, I decided not to show Shun's mom and dad since that's too many characters to create and I want people to realize that Shun's brothers are not as bad as he thinks. Shun mostly brings the rivalry on himself and his brothers merely humor said rivalry. Because he is the family baby and he's a really moody kid, he despises this constant belittlement and makes up this rivalry for his supposed respect. But there's always the overbearing presence of their father, which all three brothers don't want to piss him off. And for Ryuu, his issues with the world stems from his heritage, not so much his family. He probably has the best family right now. (In my fic, his mom is actually the most beautiful character so expect some awkward stares. And I based Yukie's appearance off of Elsa from Frozen. I love that character and Idina Menzel!) As evidenced in his preliminary match, his issues stem from the fact he comes from another country. And Kinako…her situation just sucks. But it is also mysterious. I will go in depth of that in the story. Review!<em>


	17. Training With Legends

_Last chapter, you saw Kinako fight and train. This time, you get to see Shun and Ryuu fight and train. But, things will get a little bit more philosophical and deeper than it seems. It all relates back to the main theme._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17: Training with Legends<strong>

"Oh crap! You are…" Ryuu gaped. How in the hell did Shikamaru hook them up? Which one was going to be his trainer? Either way, this was going to be awesome!

Shun merely chuckled at the sight. "How interesting…"

Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha traversed side-by-side along their path. They seemed to be a bit dressed down from what they looked during proctoring. For one thing, they weren't wearing their vests. They were casual. Naruto transformed from the traditional Konoha garb into his signature black and road-cone orange suit. Sasuke wore a dark purple jacket over a black shirt and long, baggy green pants. His clan's signal was more apparent since it was largely emblazoned on his back and he wore a necklace to showcase the symbol too. Frankly, both genins found these personas better since before they were a little stuffy.

"I guess these are his kids." Naruto leaned down to the short ones. He smiled cheekily and nodded his head. "Hey! You might know me as the third stage's awesome proctor, but my name is Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to finally meet you kids!"

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, the first proctor." Sasuke simply stated. "Naruto, are you trying to scare his kids? They're not saying anything."

"We're not scared!" Shun haughtily retorted. "We're just surprised that Shikamaru-sensei roped you two into being our trainers. Isn't that against the rules?"

"Not when Sasuke's role is basically done and all I have to do is announce the match." Naruto suddenly snickered and punched Sasuke's arm. "I think you got the sassy one."

"So what? Dobe, you get the dobe."

"Dobe. That's pretty good, Gate Jumper." Shun smirked since it was hilarious. He and his new trainer are going to get along just fine.

"Yeah? You get the tr-" Ryuu would have gone on if not for a really cold piece of metal at his neck.

Sasuke held the ice boy at knife point. "Mind finishing that sentence?"

"N-N-No thank you!"

Sasuke huffed and sent Ryuu flying forward with a simple push. "Naruto, you got some work ahead of you. You better fix your kid up before he faces mine."

"He's not facing my kid yet!" The fox guy gloated. "He's facing that wire girl first! Isn't she the one who found out about your-"

"We're leaving." Sasuke literally picked up Shun and dragged him away before completely vanishing in smoke.

"Hey Uzumaki-sensei, what did Kinako see in him?" A curious Ryuu tugged on his trainer's sleeve. However, Naruto was not giving in to it. "C'mon! Kinako always finds out juicy things about Shikamaru-sensei and she can't tell us because he'll kill her."

"Sorry, but I'm more afraid of the married couple than your sensei." Naruto meekly replied. "And just call me Naruto. Or 'Your Awesomeness'!"

Ryuu sweat dropped. He may be a little slow, but he was not that dumb. "I'll stick to Naruto-sensei."

"Good enough. So, I heard you're from the Yuki clan. That's cool." Naruto complimented and he retrieved the scroll from Ryuu's hand. "Let's see…here! Here's the one you need to master."

"Huh?" Ryuu glanced at the technique. "What!? Out of all the techniques, you choose the hardest one!"

"Yep!"

"How the heck can I master this in a month?"

"Hey. I mastered the Summoning Technique in a month." Naruto argued back. "Besides, since you're from the Yuki clan, it should be easy for you."

"No, it's not! It took me a week to learn the basic technique!" Ryuu shot back. "Besides, what do you know about my clan? They're basically extinct."

Naruto scoffed. This guy was too cocky for his own good. "Did you know Sasuke and I fought one of the last remaining members of your clan? You probably never even seen your clan's stronger techniques in action. Is your mother a ninja?"

"No…just a civilian…"

"Exactly. All I've seen you do is shoot out ice and create shields. That's not even going to get you past your first round. And the guy you're fighting, Akai Kasunoko, he killed a guy."

"I know." Ryuu grumbled, but then, he shot up enthusiastically with an idea. "Hey! I got an idea! Why don't you teach me the awesome Rasengan too!? There's no hand signs to that! And it's just chakra manipulation! I'm good at that. I can manipulate my chakra to fit wind, water, and ice techniques really easily! I can totally master Rasengan!"

"With you chakra control, you're going to need two shadow clones. Since you don't have that, learning Rasengan will be impossible."

"Shadow clones!? Are you going to teach me that too?" The albino jumped in happiness. "This is going to be awesome!"

Alright, that's where Naruto was drawing the line. "No. I refuse to teach you shadow clones. It is a forbidden technique and you'll kill yourself before you even try." Not to mention Shikamaru and Temari would kill him.

"Ok…fine…" Ryuu cracked his fingers and retrieved his small scroll back. "I'll learn the highest technique. I'll even learn all the techniques in this scroll. But I will learn Rasengan, whether you like it or not!"

This kid was eager to learn. But he was also reckless. He reminded Naruto of himself back in the day. Maybe that was why Shikamaru chose him to train this kid. But Shikamaru really did mean it when he warned that Ryuu was the dumb one. Naruto just hoped that this kid would wise up in time and learn a little humility. Or else, Naruto would need to break it into him.

_OoOoO_

Sasuke and Shun suddenly appeared in a separate training field. Sasuke was still dragging Shun by his arm, but rather more forceful than appropriate. From this, it was easy to deduce that his training was not going to be easy. In fact, knowing the history and personality behind Sasuke, his training was going to be hell. If he got Naruto as a trainer, he'd probably outwit him. So this ruthless man was training him for a different reason. Shun was eternally grateful to all the people who fought in the war, but Sasuke was that gray area. He didn't know if he should show respect for this guy or disdain for abandoning his village in the first place. Shun considered that guy lucky that Konoha decided to grant him amnesty.

"Do you know why your sensei asked me to train you?" Sasuke finally released the boy.

Shun rubbed his arm, which had been suffering all this time. "I have an idea…"

"You're aware of my reputation in this village. I have one of the highest body counts in this village. Even higher than that dobe, Naruto. You can't fight to kill. We're going to change that." Sasuke knelt down before him and activated Sharingan instantaneously. Shun felt small butterflies in his stomach when staring into those blood-red eyes. "This will be a one month survival match. I'll give you a three second head start."

"What!?"

"One."

Shun bolted the fuck out of there. Was this guy seriously going to kill him? This was insane!

"Two."

"You can't be serious! I'm just a kid!" Shun cried out. He was in the midst of making the perfect getaway technique. And poof! He was gone from that spot into a new spot just one kilometer away. Shun hated that this technique only moved him a small distance. Besides, he glanced at the assassin standing in the open field. If his new trainer was really going to kill him, he needed to think of a good strategy to take down this guy.

"Three." Sasuke took only one look to find his prey's location.

Shun sat down on the limbs and prodded at his forehead. He probably had cherry blossoms blooming on his forehead by the amount of times he pinched it. This was such an unnecessary habit.

"Chidori!"

Boom! His body fell forward and smacked right into the bark. But the pain meant nothing. It was the sound of chirping birds and his fizzing hair that surprised the boy.

Sasuke merely smirked. "You're too slow." He drew out his blade from his side. And with that long sword, he struck down to slice the boy in half.

Crap! He was serious! Shun quickly countered with a special kunai. And then, he disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke didn't even try to trace the chakra of this boy. Shikamaru warned him well. Shun was going to anything possible to evade him for enough time. As brilliant as a strategist this boy was, he was too slow of a thinker. Shun was essentially a sitting duck at this point. And all Sasuke just needed to break that boy's train of thought to ensure a perfect kill. But of course, he couldn't actually kill the boy…just scare him. The end goal was entirely different. And Shikamaru thought this whole plot very thoroughly.

Five minutes were up. Time to chase the boy!

Sasuke quickly jumped back into the premises of Konoha. If his eyes were correct, the little boy should be hiding behind this fence. Sasuke promptly burned the wood down, revealing a cowering Shun.

"You're insane!" Shun backed away. This man was a killing machine!

"Just how long are you going to run?" Sasuke questioned him. He drew out a smaller blade this time and ran his electricity through the blade. "Why don't you fight?"

"Why don't you stay there for a moment?" Shun threw four tags with seals onto the ground of Sasuke's feet. All four activated simultaneously and shot out a thin ray of light. A thin barrier reminiscent of glass shot up, which effectively trapped Sasuke into a cage of seals.

Sasuke reached up and lightly tapped this cage. He felt glass, indestructible glass, upon his fingertips. Even if the appearance was thin, the barrier spanned a foot in width. And the space was a bit small to slash out, not that this wall could be cut to pieces by a regular blade. Another Chidori should do the trick. But he shouldn't be wasting his chakra on a little boy. "You know this trick won't hold me forever. I'll be out in a few minutes and I'll come hunting you again."

Shun turned to leave.

"Buying yourself time is also useless." Sasuke reprimanded the boy. "You're never going to have enough time. Give up on that notion." The barrier dropped a few inches due to Shun's weakening control. "Imagine this. You are with your teammates, that albino kid and the wire girl, and they have to buy time for you while in battle. You are just sitting in the back, defenseless and taking your sweet time to formulate a strategy. But your teammates put their life on the line so you can do your job. And one by one, both of them fall because you ran out of time. The mission is a failure. You're wide open for the kill. And you've just disappointed your teammates by being such a useless ninja." The barrier finally fell. "And that's why you fight."

Shun glared at him, which was nullified by the Uchiha's returning glare. From behind his back, Shun retrieved two kunai and a large folding shuriken. He knew the Sharingan saw it all. But he had to try this last effort plan.

Shun threw the shuriken first, which Sasuke simply knocked aside. And once his guard was down for that split second, Shun launched out with both kunais ready to strike. "Hidden Technique: Vanishing Tiger Claws!" His chakra infused deeply into the seals of his blades, creating two large swords made out of pure chakra. One slash fell at Sasuke's side, only for the teacher to dodge it.

Sasuke glanced back at where the chakra blade once been. A slashed portal was in its place, swirling of purples and greys while taking bits of his hair into the unknown. What an interesting trick…for a start. He glanced back at Shun, or where that boy was. Just like his trademark fashion, he disappeared to run again.

"Stupid kid." Sasuke grumbled.

"Sasuke-kun. I just saw a little kid run through the kitchen. Could he the kid you're training?" A pink haired kunoichi, Sakura, leaped out from the kitchen window.

Apparently, he just destroyed his own fence without even realizing it.

Sakura's hands were wet with a mix of water and blood. "There was an emergency operation I had to perform," she explained.

"Do you know in what direction he ran?"

Sakura's green eyes narrowed in concern. "Sasuke-kun…Are you doing the survival match training? He's only eleven years old."

"The boy lacks the will to fight when he actually can fight. My job is to force him to fight."

"And that's enough to warrant an ANBU training exercise on a kid." Sakura mumbled. "Kakashi-sensei never did it that far."

"I'm not that old man." He justified and began to leave. "Sorry to cut this short, but I have some teaching to do." He planted a soft kiss on her cheek before vanishing into the sky.

_OoOoO_

"Whoa! Sasuke's really pulling out that training method to little Shun?" Naruto gaped, but then, mused a bit on that thought. "Maybe I should try doing that?"

"Naruto!"

"I'm kidding! Sakura-chan!" Naruto nervously jumped back. Even after all these years, the only thing that could truly frighten him was his own teammate's fury.

Sakura sadly mulled around, thinking about poor Shun running for his life. She had to admit that her husband was terrifying. Girls who once liked and admired Sasuke for his looks were instantly turned off by his scary personality. And his body-count and former traitor reputation wasn't helping that fact. Sakura even found herself to be insane once she knew she was still in love with him after all he's done. But they save each other through everything. She saw that good center under his killer intent. But this training lesson was starting to give her doubts.

"Hey Sakura-chan, have you told him yet? It's been a few weeks now." Naruto reached out and gently patted her flat belly.

Also, she was pregnant...definitely pregnant. Only she and Naruto knew this fact. She was planning to tell Sasuke earlier, but Shun got in the way...literally, he ran in between them when evading his trainer. After witnessing that little boy and realizing that she never once saw Sasuke with kids, she held off on the reveal.

"Naruto, do you think Sasuke's good with kids?" Sakura asked her friend.

"Are you kidding me? He's using a training method with a 98% chance of killing the trainee!" Naruto laughed his ass off only for Sakura to punch him.

"I mean for our child!"

"Oh yeah. Totally." Naruto simply replied, "I knew you two were going to have kids eventually once you get hitched. The fact that it took you five years till now is pretty impressive."

"You've been dating Hinata-chan for the same amount of time and nothing has happened."

"Th-That's beside the point!" Naruto awkwardly coughed. She was really keeping track? He wasn't and he hoped Hinata didn't. "Anyways, I know Sasuke better than anyone. When he loves something, he'll do anything to protect it. And I know his childhood was bad. He wouldn't want the same thing to happen to his kid."

"But when we start training the baby, does he have enough patience? He's been a bit temperamental these few weeks."

"Chunin Exams will do that you. I'm glad I got the easy part!" Naruto snickered.

"Yeah...all you have to do is announce matches. I've been working my butt off healing all these injured kids and Sasuke strained his Sharingan after keeping it up for an hour. And now, he's training a kid nonstop for a whole month."

"Hey, things will be alright. You'll see. And there are always babysitters to consider."

"I will _never_ let you take care of a child! Don't be ridiculous!" Sakura huffed and immediately stood up. "I'm going back to the hospital. Please make sure Sasuke-kun doesn't kill his kid."

"Got it."

Now, Naruto had to worry about his own kid. Ryuu was still training on his own. After one day, he mastered most of his clan's basic techniques. And with each success, he grew more and more arrogant. At least, when Naruto was that age, he was annoyingly arrogant that people took him for a joke. Ryuu was just a cocky person who wanted to prove himself too much.

"Ryuu, what is your game plan?" Naruto asked from the sidelines.

"I'm going to learn every technique in here, including the hard one you picked out."

"What's with the moodiness?"

"I'm just learning my clan techniques from a scroll. It's useful, but I have no one to spar with or test it out. And you refuse to spar with me."

"That's because I don't want to kill you by accident. And you haven't mastered enough to fight against me."

"Are you kidding me? I just got this message from Shun!" Ryuu held up a small piece of paper with a seal written on it. "He's being chased down by his trainer and you're just sitting there. I want to become a stronger ninja and I know it can only be accomplished from experience. It's like I'm not even training!"

"Do you want to go into a war right now?" Naruto challenged the boy. "Some things can't be achieved through experience. You sometimes need a guide."

Ryuu frowned. He thought this training experience was going to be so useful. He's training with the strongest ninja of Konoha! The savior of Konoha! But all he's been doing is following the scroll's instructions while Naruto sat by and watched. This wasn't training! "So how come you're not guiding me?"

"How can I possibly guide you in kekkei genkai training?" Naruto nervously chuckled. This guy was getting a little demanding.

"How about some wind technique training? I've heard stories about your destructive wind techniques! Rasenshuriken!"

"I will never teach that. It's too dangerous. You'll tear off your own arm." Naruto flatly stated.

"See! You're not even teaching me anything you know! Are you just hoarding your techniques since you're such a world famous ninja!?" Ryuu was really getting disappointed that his famous trainer was being a little unwilling to actually train and teach him.

Ahh! That was the problem. Naruto noticed this admiration when he first saw the boy at the preliminary rounds. But anyone would admire a bunch of upper class ninjas in the village. Ryuu was at a whole other level. It made sense since he came to Konoha from another village after knowing all the stories from the war. "Hey Ryuu, drop your training for a bit." Naruto stated and ushered the kid over. "I want you to answer this seriously. If you correctly answer this question, I'll properly train you for your exam and I'll teach you Rasengan."

"Yes! Yes! I'll do it!" Ryuu's eyes gleamed of eagerness. Finally, Rasengan shall be his to learn.

"Who is Konoha's hero?"

"Oh! That's so easy. It's you."

"Wrong!"

Ryuu gaped. "Wha-What? But it's definitely you! You're the one who defeated the monster Obito! How can it not be you? If it weren't for your epic fight, everyone would have been finished!"

Naruto chuckled and nodded in agreement. This boy reminded him so much of himself. "Yes, that is true. But that doesn't make me a hero."

"Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Hell no!"

"Hey!" Ryuu retorted out. "That's no fair! I was born four years after the war and my mom was still a fugitive in the Country of Water! We only know from the stories people tell us!"

"Hmm…bummer." Naruto simply left to go home. "If you want a hint, go to the Third Training Grounds."

"Huh? What about training?"

"We will train tomorrow."

Ryuu only frowned even more and jumped away from his training ground. Shikamaru's team usually trained on the Tenth Training Grounds since that was the closest to Shikamaru's cloud watching spot. So the Third was not that far away. When Ryuu finally came, he noticed that it was pretty small. There was only one clearing and three posts. And everywhere else, there was a large forest. Ryuu paced around the small clearing and even ventured a bit into the forest. He saw nothing. What kind of a hint can be hidden in this training ground?

The albino boy was close to leaving, but a small glint caught his eye. Ah. He forgot about a key detail in this training ground. A black memorial stone shaped like kunai was situated a short distance into the forest. Around this massive stone were a few smaller stones, each etched with the fallen soldiers from all the villages. Ryuu easily noticed Kirigakure's symbol on one of the stones. Too bad he only knew a few names. The Konoha stone was famous for keeping Obito's name etched in, even though he was the enemy.

After closely observing the memorial stones, Ryuu suddenly grinned of his brilliant idea. This has to be it! These names stood out! He finally knew Konoha's hero!

_OoOoO_

Shun wheezed out another breath of air. He never ran this much in one day. Ever! What was this man made of? How could he still track down the nearly untraceable transportation technique? Then again, he is the last living Uchiha so it was possible. But still, Shun shouldn't be subjected to this kind of torture! His chakra was already spent trying to land a good hit with his claws and transporting from places to places. And Sasuke only dodged and attacked. And that man always found him.

Suddenly, a blade sliced down in front of his face, chopping off a good portion of his hair. God! Does this guy not know when to stop!?

"I told you that running away is useless." Sasuke dodged another attack. "And using that technique is also useless." And he jumped away before a sudden portal appeared inside his body. "And that one."

"Ugh," Shun groaned and stood up. Sojiro was going to kill him for using his signature technique. But he had no choice. Shun bit into his thumb, drawing blood, and he began doing ten hand signs.

"Hmm? A summon?" Sasuke sheathed his sword.

"You're wide open!" Shun launched forward and drew a seal with his blood in the air. "Hidden Technique: Blood Marker!"

"Oh! This!" Sasuke easily evaded every drop of blood that came his way. Sojiro displayed this really well when he trained in the ANBU. Sasuke admitted him the minute he took out twenty guys with this one technique. Once the blood got onto their clothes or skin, a Tetsuya clan member could send out a portal or a barrier or a stash of weapons or anything for that matter. It will always hit. So, knowing Sojiro, he had a really good idea how to evade this.

"What!?" Shun grew more and more frustrated. "Come on! That's the first time I tried this out!"

"Sojiro used this a lot when he joined my elite squadron of ninjas. You don't think I can evade something I've seen a hundred times." Sasuke stated. "Is that all you got? How disappointing…"

"Why don't you actually go easy on me? I'm just a genin. I'm not an ANBU ninja like Sojiro!" Shun cried out.

Sasuke glared at the little boy. "You think that just because you're a genin, everyone has to go easy on you? Don't screw with me. Kids like you have to grow up fast and realize that the world is not for you to fit in. That is your problem. You've grown up in such a cushy lifestyle that you've never experienced the realities of life. You're terrified. I'm here to tell you: Nothing is ever easy."

"Easy!? You act as if I'm facing a really hard opponent who can actually kill me!" Shun yelled back, furious because of his predicament. "You're right! I'm terrified. I'm terrified that I'm going to kill her, my teammate, Kinako. I know I can defeat her in a match. But I will _never_ want to hurt her! And here you are, constantly egging me to fight when I don't want to."

Sasuke sighed and knelt down till he was face to face with the boy. "And that's what makes you weak. As far as I'm concerned, your teammate already won her match against you."

"What if it was you fighting against your wife? That pink-haired kunoichi woman?" Shun smirked. He knew he got that man where he wanted.

"I already did…"

Shun backed away, both in shock and fear. Seriously? Does this guy have any limits? He'd probably fight and kill his own kin! "See! Those who endlessly fight turn into nothing but monsters! Killing monsters!"

"A killing monster?" Sasuke chuckled at the thought. It was amusing. He threw a few shurikens and pinned down the boy to a wall. "You're right. In some people's eyes, I am a monster who hunts and kills his prey with no remorse. When I fought Sakura, I almost killed her and I would have killed her. I was only two years older than you when I fought Naruto for the kill. And I won that match. Yet, he still lives…because I chose not to kill him. Knowing when to stop is what makes you a human and not a monster. So with that said…" Sasuke raised two fingers to his lips. "Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"

"Vanishing Tiger Claws!" This man really has no soul! He fought both of his teammates with no remorse and won!

"Imagine this, Shun." Sasuke swiftly dodged the portals and trapped Shun under his blade. "Ryuu and Kinako are controlled by the enemy and you have to stop them. What will you do?"

Shun didn't immediately answer.

"Kill them? Break the control?"

"I'll save them!" Shun yelled back. "I'll keep my friends safe!"

"How? They are more battle capable than you. You're just an easy target." Sasuke removed his blade and pointed its tip at Shun's nose. "And that's why you fight."

_OoOoO_

Kinako and Kurema stood at opposite ends of the training hall. Kinako wore slashes of red up her arms and legs. The cuts were stinging deep, cutting into her vision as well. The girl deeply breathed in long drags of air before huffing and puffing her way for another attack. Her wires lay strewn upon her feet and tangled in her hands. And her braids were unwound into a messy hair hive.

Kurema observed this tired girl and shook his head. "No. No. We're done." He put away his trench knives.

"What? But we only trained for a day!"

"No more sparring. You're not improving." Kurema stated and he headed back into the house. "We're going to play shogi from now on."

* * *

><p><em>Shun and Ryuu are training hard, even though their trainers are a bit…difficult. I wanted to go more in depth of all the characters other than Temari and Shikamaru. Sorry that there's not enough ShikaTema in this chapter. But I'll let that slide since this whole story is about ShikaTema. Sasuke and Sakura are the main focus in this chapter. Who's going to be the main focus in the next chapter?<em>


	18. Subtle Progressions

_I'm so busy in college that I don't have time to upload these! So here's three chapters in one go!_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18: Subtle Progressions<strong>

The following day, Ryuu and Kinako were secretly walking to their respective training areas. Shun would have joined them, but unfortunately, he was still being hunted down by his very vicious sensei. Kinako was a little disappointed as she spoke about her training being composed of boring shogi matches. Ryuu was just mad that his sensei gave him a question to answer in order for proper training. He even asked Kinako to help answer it, but she said that she needed to get a good look at Naruto to answer that. She said that a "hero" was different for everyone. Also, she felt bad for helping him cheat so she refused.

After dropping off Kinako at the Nara estate, Ryuu continued to another estate. He had been training since dawn and Naruto still did not arrive. Ryuu could only think of one other place the guy would be. He finally stopped at an illustrious palace that spanned a good portion of Konoha. A noble clan lived here: the Hyugas. And his girlfriend lived here.

Did he think he was intruding? No. It was nearly noon so everyone should have risen from their beds. And also, Naruto ditched first.

Ryuu jumped the gates, evaded the guards, and leapt into a window of the house. Now…where to start looking?

"What are you doing here?" A bold and irritated voice yelled at him.

Ryuu yelped, leaped, and fell on his butt. "Ow! Hey! Why were you not at the training grounds?"

Naruto shrugged. "I never said what time to go train."

Ryuu glared at him and huffed in fury. So much for training with a legendary ninja…he'd rather get hunted down now by the Uchiha.

"Anyways did you find the answer to my question?"

"Yes. The hero of Konoha is all of the soldiers who died in the wars." Ryuu proudly answered.

"Close. But that's not correct."

"What!?" Ryuu closed his eyes, thinking hard. The answer popped up again this time. "I got it! Konoha's hero is the Hokage. They all fought in previous wars to keep the village safe. And when the last war happened, all the Hokages resurrected and still protected Konoha at your side. The hero has to be the Hokage!"

"Nope." Naruto sighed.

"How is it not the Hokage? The Hokage is the strongest and the most responsible ninja in the village! One has to have enough courage and strength to be the Hokage. Konoha exists by having a Hokage."

"You don't have to be the strongest ninja to be a hero." Naruto corrected the boy. "And it's not a figurative person. This hero lived here and breathed the same air."

"Can you at least give me a description?"

"Well, he was not the strongest ninja. There were many more ninjas more powerful than him. But he was a good person. He protected Konoha well. I fought beside him in battles. Even though I outranked him in terms of strength, skill, and technique, he was something that I could never be." Naruto smirked as he reminisced his memories. "He was a genius."

Did this guy just describe Shikamaru? "Is it my sensei? Shikamaru-sensei?"

Naruto sweat dropped. "No. But we would have died without that guy."

And from then on, they left to go train some more. Ryuu mastered a bunch of other techniques. He even created his personal skating ice lane where he was doing flips and loops. He could coat his weapons with frost so that the small flakes could spread the ice onto infecting his opponents. He could summon a mist and make it snow, turning the battleground into his personal playground. But he has yet to master the ultimate technique of the Yuki clan.

However, from the shadows, a redheaded boy watched closely at his opponent. The guy was fighting and getting stronger. Akai kept his silence as he observed the guy. Since only the Yuki clan could make ice out of nothing and they were nearly extinct, this Ryuu guy was suddenly that much more important.

"Checking out the competition?"

Akai turned around to see a former opponent looking at him snoop. Ayame was dressed a little differently since she wasn't wearing her black attire. It must be her civilian clothing. She wore a light pink and white cropped top that bounded just below her chest, thus showing her bare stomach. At her waist, she wore a long, pink dress that ended just at her feet. Even though he could sense that she was still a bit mad for beating her up, she was smiling happily at him.

Ayame stepped forward and peeked out. "I think he's going to beat you. And I can't wait!"

Akai didn't answer and left her.

She lightly continued talking, "You know, sometimes I like to snoop at my opponents too. I want to see how cute or pretty they look before I chop them into pieces. I thought you were a pretty mysterious boy." And that he was practically three years older than her and reeked of outdoor Mist scent.

He ignored her.

"Hey! There's no need to be rude to me!" Ayame ran after him. "You beat me in the match! Remember? There's no need for such animosity."

He was still not answering. And his footsteps quickened.

"Hey! C'mon, we're from the same village!" Ayame had it! Never in her life had she met such a rude person! The crazy girl ran and tackled him to the ground. She knocked him face up and straddled on top of him so he couldn't escape. "Ha! That's what you get for being so rude!"

"Get off of me, you annoying girl!"

"No!" Ayame smirked, now knowing she had power over him unlike their match. "Now, from which island are you from? Hoshu? Kiriano? Hokkaido?" She began tickling him when he didn't answer, cackling at his struggle. "Spit it out! I'll keep tickling you!"

But then, in their struggle, his shirt somehow lifted up to reveal bare skin and something dark. Ayame seemed to notice this and immediately stopped her torture. Yet, Akai took this drop in her defense and wrestled her to the ground. Ayame gasped in his attack as she tried to push him off of her. It was no use. He was too strong! Suddenly, the ground began to sink around her body

"Look girl, I'm not in the mood to be playing with you." He growled into her ear. "What did you see?"

"Nothing..." Ayame simply said but grinned. "But you might want to bulk up if you want to defeat that Ryuu guy. I know a Mist ninja when I see one. And he will beat you. What a shame. He could have been a good ninja in the village."

"Idiot." Akai scoffed and he finally got off her.

But her grin disappeared once his control was gone. "Hey. You made my cute clothes dirty!" Suddenly, an iris flower shot into the air which she easily caught between her fingers. Ayame examined this flower as it reminded her of her signature attack. It was beautiful, she had to admit.

"That should be my apology." He stated with no care.

Ayame merely pouted as she fingered the flower. What a strange guy…for an outsider.

_OoOoO_

It's been nearly five days of constant running away. Shun soon found himself depleted of sleep, food, and reluctance to even run. He already tried thinking of some plan to evade Sasuke and defeat him, but once he got into the mood, Sasuke would pop out of nowhere to try and kill him. And the cycle repeats.

He even sneaked back home to steal food from the fridge and bumped into Sojiro out of good fortunes. Except his luck ran out when Sojiro refused to help him. Apparently, his brother was in a team so it was an easier training exercise. Also, he liked seeing the baby suffer.

Shun fumed at that reason and he spotted their hard ass dad. Dad hated his brother's dating choices. "Ugh. I still can't believe you're dating my former genjutsu teacher!"

"Shun!"

The family baby already ran before Sasuke could make another appearance.

But after so many days, he just stopped running. His life was on the line. It was better to stop this once and for all instead of constant escapes from the problem. So he stopped on an empty rooftop and took a handful of cards out. He made these out of boredom and they were a new invention. Hopefully, they would work.

"You finally want to fight?" Sasuke drew out his blade and ran his electricity through the metal. The man charged at the boy, swinging with precision to aim at his head, hopeful to leave a few stinging gashes.

But when the man ran Raikiri through his blade and shot a large dose right at Shun, the boy quickly held out his hand to stop it. Sasuke noticed a seal scrawled on the palm. A reflective seal? Soon, the boy took out a bunch of cards.

"Really?" Sasuke looked at him, eyes just full of sarcasm. "I'm not even going to justify that logic."

Shun began chucking the cards like shuriken. Thirteen cards went flying at Sasuke with seals written on all of the cards. But some of the seals were fake. And some were real seals meant to deliver what the previous reflective seal took in…like that large blast of lightning! Shun gave the hand sign and blasted Sasuke with his own attack.

"You do not know how easy it is to dodge that." Sasuke dully mocked from behind him.

"Tiger Claws!" Shun stabbed behind him, only to meet the knife with Sasuke's sword. But then, he smirked because the man was standing where he wanted him. "Hidden Technique: Five Pentagon Bomb!"

Five of the cards were positioned in five corners, making a perfect pentagon. They all lit up with brilliant light, using the explosive lightning chakra Shun had in him. Five pillars of light shot up and closed in on the center of the target. They were going to explode whatever was in the center. And Shun ran into the portal he just created.

Sasuke merely scoffed at the bomb and stabbed his sword in the dead center. He simply channeled his own lightning chakra into the blade and then all five corners and shot all the concentrated power up into the sky. It was an elaborate set up and an impressive jutsu to pull off. But Shun was just a little inexperienced in using it.

And the boy suddenly reappeared a few feet away. He was knocked out. He failed to survive the training. But he started the fight…and that was the point. So, in a way, he passed this test.

Sasuke picked up the boy and carried him to his own home. Sakura was home early today. The pink-haired woman smiled in glee when she saw her husband's return, but worried settled onto her pink lips when she saw the boy.

"Sasuke-kun! He's exhausted and dehydrated! Just how long did you chase him?" Sakura immediately took Shun and laid him across their couch.

"Five days. I gave him time to rest." Sasuke argued as he noticed that Sakura was getting a little pissed.

"It looks like he needs some rest and some nutrients. It looks like he went through three days without consecutive rest." Sakura glared at her husband.

He shrugged. "I didn't chase him when he needed rest. It's not my fault he decided not to sleep."

"Get an ice pack right now! I'm going to replenish some chakra in this boy." Sakura lit up her hands with green chakra and pressed her palm on the boy's chest. Seriously, Sasuke could be just as stupid as Naruto sometimes. He would run a boy to the brink of death just for training! How insane!

Sakura's eyes suddenly casted away from the boy and onto her stomach. How was he going to take care of their child?

"Ugh…" Shun finally came to and the first thing he saw was pink hair. He was too tired at this point to care that he was being touched by Sakura.

"Hey. You're alright now." Sakura softly said and she encouragingly rubbed the boy's back. "It's okay. You don't have to do that dumb training exercise."

Sasuke grunted at that comment and slapped a wet ice pack on Shun. "How are you feeling, kid?"

"Terrible…what am I doing in your house?"

"I brought you here to rest. The month long survival exercise is over."

Shun groaned and plopped back down. "That was the most pointless exercise ever. All I did was fight you and run from you."

"Not necessarily. What happens every time I do this exercise is that the subject gets tired after being chased and resolves to get rid of the chaser. That teaches one of the basic steps in ANBU code." Sasuke sat down next to Shun. "You're lucky I decided to teach such a secretive and effective method. It simultaneously improves your speed, strength, thinking, and endurance. You're now stronger than the first time you ran from me."

"I don't feel stronger. I'm just tired." Shun slumped into his couch and dozed off right there.

The boy was sound asleep. Sasuke would expect that since an eleven year old kid managed to evade him for five days. But then, out of the corner of his eye, Sakura was ushering him to come to her.

"What is it?"

Sakura pouted and punched him in the shoulder. "Next time, don't be so rough with him!"

_OoOoO_

"So…what do you think makes a hero?" Ryuu chomped on some ramen from Ichiraku. He heard this was Naruto's favorite joint in the village. That man always came here after a long mission to enjoy a nice bowl of ramen. After eating a lot, he would talk on and on about his adventures to the owners.

"I don't know about Naruto. He always talked about how he missed my ramen." Ichiraku hummed as he cooked up more ramen.

So the old man didn't know as well.

Disgruntled, Ryuu paid up his ryou and began to leave the stall. Who could be Naruto's hero? Was it someone close to him? Was it someone well known in the village? Was it his parents? No. He already tried that. Gah! Why does such an easy question have to be so difficult?

"I hate this!" A random bunch of ice needles shot from his arm.

"Ah!"

"Eh?" Ryuu glanced around. Did he accidentally hit someone? He suddenly saw a woman wearing and oversized jacket and long blue hair. She was standing in front of an ice needle. Crap! He's in trouble! "Hinata Hyuga! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! Please don't tell Naruto-sensei! He'll kill me!"

Hinata nervously chuckled. "It's okay, Ryuu-chan. I'm not hurt."

"Whew!" Ryuu breathed a sigh of relief. "By the way, what are you doing here? It's kind of late."

"I'm buying a few groceries for dinner. Hanabi is cooking tonight. But what are you doing here?" Hinata shyly asked. She knew this boy was Naruto's disciple, but she heard a few nasty things from her boyfriend. But Naruto always exaggerated a few things. Was this kid really that bad?

"Hm…I'm just asking around. I'm trying to find out Konoha's hero. It's some dumb question Naruto-sensei gave me. He won't train me if I don't answer it!" Ryuu complained. "Hey Hinata-san! Want to give me a hint? Naruto-sensei must have told you something! He went to your place this afternoon."

"Oh…that…" Hinata anxiously said. "That was for something else…Umm…He didn't tell me anything. I'm sorry."

Ryuu frowned and immediately went back to moping. Even his girlfriend didn't know the answer.

"But I find it weird that Naruto-kun would ask such a question." Hinata softly mused. "He never asks those kinds of things. He says it's too ridiculous. Heehee. Even Sakura-chan said he has to be a little smarter to ask something like that."

Smarter? Brains? Genius? Aha! Ryuu got it. "Thank you, Hinata-san!"

"Huh? Did I say something?" Hinata tilted her head in question, but sighed and continued on home.

_OoOoO_

Kinako silently sat on her end of the shogi board with a cup of tea at one side and a fan on the other end. They've been playing this board game for a whole week now. She couldn't beat this guy at all! Did he get Shikamaru's brains by being his personal disciple? Every time she made a move, he would easily counter it and proceed to beat her into the next round. She studied his face. No…

And after all this sitting around and doing nothing, Kinako really began to feel like an old man rather than a ninja-in-training. She tried to train on her own, but she was just chopping down trees with her special wire strings. Then, she started chopping up rocks and made a few statues. But she already mastered her cutting techniques along with her wind chakra. How could she effectively use this in battle?

She quickly moved a knight and took out Kurema's pawn. Usually, her moves would take around a minute to complete but Kurema took his sweet time in moving his stuff. That only extended this boring game.

"Hey Kinako-chan, can you see what moves I'm going to make?" Kurema asked once in a middle of game.

She gazed into his dark brown eyes. "You're going to move the king soon to escape my knight. Am I correct?"

"Yeah…that's why I'm going to move the queen instead." Kurema did his move and captured her knight. "Kinako-chan, your predictions are on the level of the Sharingan. It's a remarkable skill and an ability anyone would die for. But you are not utilizing it correctly in this match."

"How is looking at your personal background helpful in a fight?"

"For one thing, you can figure out weaknesses and strengths with one look. Ninjas will often fight for hours without knowing their opponents weakness, which may have had the potential of ending the fight in a second. Another thing, you know what your opponent is capable of. You know at what distance you should attack, what to defend with, and what to attack. Once you begin, you already know everything there is to know about your opponent. Your analyzing skills give you a huge advantage."

"We're playing shogi, not fighting. I don't need to know how you can fight." Especially if their fighting styles were similar to begin with.

"You can look into my character and try to figure out what plan I have." Kurema suggested. "Who do I look like to you?"

"A good person," Kinako lightly answered. "Looking at your eyes, you are very kind and laidback. But you are also serious and hardworking. And you have your mother's eyes."

"Heh?"

"Sanae trained under Kurenai because her parents requested a tutor." Kinako explained and continued, "You fight like your father, who was Shikamaru-sensei's teacher. You were born during the Great War and graduated first of your year. You're best friends with Shun-kun's brother, Takeru. You like his teammate, Saki. And you two were made chunin on your first try of the exams. And you fought this Sand genin who was formerly Temari-sensei's student. He caused…quite a ruckus…"

"Did you get to see it?"

Kinako shook her head. "No. My papa wouldn't let me. And when Inuzuka-san snuck me out, the matches were already suspended."

"What do you think happened?"

"From the look of your surprised face, it seems like Shikamaru-sensei stepped in. I don't know what happened."

"So sometimes, there is a limit of how much you can read." Kurema mused.

"Kurema-san, what happened in that arena?" Kinako softly asked as she toyed around with one of her pawns.

"Why should you be curious?"

"I'm not curious…but I feel bad for my other sensei." Kinako whispered. "Every time I see her face, she always seems so sad. Whatever happened that day, she's still haunted by the events and it's been impacting her job as an ambassador in Konoha. Whenever she looks at you, I see nothing but misery in her eyes. So I'd like to know the reason…because Shikamaru-sensei is my sensei and he is desperately in love with her."

"Oh…ah!" Kurema pressed onto his ringing ear. Gosh! His hearing was going to die. "I know what you're talking about, Kinako. When I first saw my sensei and Temari together, I thought they were seriously dating. Heck! I thought they were married or, at least, engaged. Back then, you could really tell that they loved each other. You know, they used to sneak away a lot when I was Shikamaru's disciple-in-training. Everyone said that's what lovers do and I didn't get it till later."

"Until…?"

"Until the Chunin Exams, where-"

Ring! "Hey! You're revealing too much! Shut up!"

"Ha! I knew it!" Kinako jumped up and wrestled away the earpiece away. That thing was strapped onto Kurema's neck so tearing it off took some work. But finally, the entire radio set was in her hands to abuse. She turned the volume to its highest. "Shikamaru-sensei! You jerk! Get out here now!"

"Whoa…she is good." Kurema gasped. "How did you know?"

"Another trait of yours, you're supposed to suck at shogi." Kinako confidently declared and Shikamaru finally came out. "There you are! I knew this set up was a trick!"

"That's Shikamaru-sensei for you." Kurema sheepishly remarked. Apparently, his old man used the same tactic when teaching Shikamaru.

"Kurema. You're dismissed."

"Yes sir!" Kurema disappeared.

"So I was really playing you this whole time. What was the point of having Kurema there?"

"A true ninja needs to see past deception. Your eyes are ideal for that. It's time to start using it." Shikamaru sat down in front of the board. "Now you're facing the real thing. How well can you read me?"

"You're mad at me still…"

"Yeah." Shikamaru reached out and swiftly whacked the girl on her head. "What did I say about my personal life!? And I still have bruises from that last time!"

"Ow! There's no other way to make you show yourself. I have no choice sometimes!" Poor Kinako grabbed some ice and plopped it on her head. "So…are you going to tell me about your relationship with Temari-sensei?"

"That…is none of your business. And we're just coworkers."

"Pshhhh…You know you can't lie to me." Kinako smirked and begun her game. "If it makes you feel better, I can see that Temari-sensei still loves you…even after three years of hating you." Even though her sensei's face was blank, she could tell his stomach was fluttering with butterflies. "You know, I think you two should get back together. Both of you are already so unhappy right now."

"Kinako…" Shikamaru reached out again and lightly punched her forehead. However, he was gentler than the last time he whacked her. "Stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. I'll tell you if you defeat me."

"That's impossible!"

"Yeah. So stop snooping into my life."

Kinako pouted and continued the game. Shikamaru was a little bit harder to read than Kurema. Since he was her sensei, she already knew everything except for what she needed to know. Shikamaru was good at hiding his true intentions.

But then again, a true ninja sees past deceptions.

_OoOoO_

Sneak. Sneak. Sneak. A ninja slipped into the Konoha Academy. Ryuu avoided all the cameras and all the guards as he crept around the building. He needed to find his special window. The basement window was his gate in. Then, he'd sneak into the records room, where all the school's history was held. He did this all the time before a test. His technique was perfected at this point! And besides tests, there were projects, forms, paperwork, schedules, attendance, and what he needed most, alumni lists. And they always ranked these lists.

Anyways, he was a little curious of his rank on the list. He knew Shun Tetsuya was probably at the top. Sanae Amanashi was second to him. The rest was a jumble.

Ryuu fished through the records and looked for his year's file. Since they were recent graduates, their file should be in the front. Ha! Found it! As expect, Shun was on top. He was actually in the middle. Where was Kinako's name? Ryuu scanned further down and began to silently laugh. She was third to last! Figures! She was always the weakest and the average student. Average never cuts it in the ninja world.

Enough with snooping in those records! He needed Naruto's year!

Ryuu went back a few more years. He even had to do some scratch work math on the side. Since students graduate at age twelve, Naruto's file should be no more than barely over a decade. Maybe…or he can just look at all the records. And once he found the records in Naruto's age group, the first student should be the genius!

Finally, he came across Sasuke Uchiha's name. But he already wasn't the genius hero…

Ryuu took out that file, but the file behind it suddenly fell out. The albino boy spotted this and picked it up immediately. It was the year of graduates before Naruto. Naturally, since the only older ninjas that Naruto interacted with were Rock Lee and Tenten, Ryuu wouldn't think much of their year. But this name stood out.

Ryuu copied down that name and raced back to the complex of houses. There was only one person who knew him!

"Hinata-san! Can I ask you something!?" The crazy albino boy jumped out and easily blocked Hinata from entering her gates.

"Ryuu-chan!" Hinata yelped in shock. "You shouldn't scare me so easily!"

"Ah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Ryuu apologetically bowed.

"It's okay." Hinata peered over the boy's back. "So what do you want to know?"

"What was Naruto-sensei really doing this morning?" Ryuu asked, but then blushed. "If it's anything awkward, you don't have to tell me!"

Poor Hinata was blushing bright red. "N-N-No! I-It's nothing l-like that!" The woman quickly recomposed herself. "Umm…Naruto-kun was paying his respects to my late brother."

"Brother?"

Hinata nodded. "He died in the war. I can show you his altar." She led Ryuu to a dojo in the main house. There, at the end, was a medium sized wooden altar with some candles and flowers placed about it. Some pillows were laid out in the front, where Hinata and Ryuu sat down. She opened up the altar, revealing a picture of a man with long brown hair wearing a Konoha headband and milky white eyes. He was smiling a little. And he looked like quite a strong person. "This is Neji nii-san."

"Neji Hyuga…" Ryuu revealed the name he copied down. The year of graduates before Naruto's year, Neji Hyuga was the top student of his year.

"Neji nii-san died saving Naruto-kun and my lives in the war. We owe this person so much…" She happily said to the memorial. "It was always unfair for him. He was a prodigy born in the branch family. He was always under the power of the main house. But he grew up happy nonetheless and became one of the greatest ninjas in the Hyuga family." Hinata lightly touched the photo of her late cousing. She was still smiling…but tears slipped from her milky eyes. "He has always protected me. He's always helped me. I'm so grateful…I miss him…"

Ryuu didn't have any words to say.

What was there to say? He remembered that although courageous people emerged from the last world war, many have also died. These deaths still affect the villagers today. He had no right to stand before this altar.

So Ryuu simply placed a comforting hand on Hinata's shoulder. "I'm so sorry…Hinata-san…"

"Ryuu-chan?" Hinata glanced behind her, only to see the boy left.

So Neji Hyuga was Konoha's hero…by dying? He saved Naruto and Hinata's life, earning their eternal respect and gratefulness. And he was one of Konoha's strongest ninjas, not to mention, a genius in his clan's arts. But what made him a hero?

The only way to find out was to go back to Naruto's first hint.

Ryuu arrived back at the Third Training Grounds. He ventured into the forest and sat down before the memorial stones. He scoured each and every name on that black stone. Neji's name was mysteriously not on it! Ryuu scanned this thing twice! How can it not be on this? He freaking saved Naruto's life! Everyone would have been dead if Neji didn't die first!

Okay…that was harsh…

Ryuu groaned and unceremoniously lied down. Now would be a good time to stare at the stars. But before he got his head down, he felt his shoulders smack into something really, _really_ hard. Was this a stone pavement? What's that doing in a forest? Ryuu flipped over and tried to clear away the moss, leaves, dirt, and junk that covered this.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" Ryuu blew a large spurt of water and cleared away all the stuff. Finally, he dried it up so it wouldn't be so slippery.

Ah…so that was where Neji Hyuga's name went.

A large plaque was installed before the Konoha memorial. The plaque was black, rectangular, and almost the size of the memorial itself. Inscribed on the stone was Neji Hyuga's name, the date and war of his death, his clan and a short message relating to a caged bird. It was a beautiful inscription.

"You like it?" A voice asked from above the trees. "It took me forever to get Granny Tsunade to approve it. Luckily, I got the all the Hyugas to back me up. I can't believe it took you five days to figure this out."

"How can I see this when it's covered by so much junk!? You should properly take care of it!" Ryuu angrily shot back at Naruto, but quickly calmed down. "So Neji is Konoha's hero? Pardon me. But could you tell me why?"

Naruto cracked a smile, something Ryuu has never seen in his sensei. The man sat down near the memorial stone and patted the space next to him. Ryuu obeyed and sat down. And so, Naruto began his story. "When I first met Neji...he was such a huge asshole. And a smart ass. He tried to kill Hinata-chan! I swore to defeat him…and I did! That asshole deserved it!"

Well…Naruto sure had a negative first impression on his hero.

"During our match, I told him that although he was a genius unacknowledged, I was willing to work against everything to get my acknowledgement! Neji took my words to heart and threw away everything he was destined to be just because he was a branch member. He told me that he resolved to be stronger and to protect his clan because it was his own will. And he mellowed out a lot!" Naruto exclaimed. "Take what you learned from that segment of the story. Ryuu, even though you come from another village, you don't have to live by what others say. Ignore them! You are as much as a Konoha ninja as the Hokage. Plus, I saw that Temari trained that Sand genin to be a jerk!"

"Gee…thanks…" Ryuu awkwardly shuffled his feet. The story was good. He was definitely interested in this Neji guy.

"Neji eventually grew to be the most improved out of my generation. Even though he wasn't the strongest, fastest, and smartest; he had enough balance and skill to be the first one to become a Jounin. That guy was _the_ genius ninja along with Shikamaru. And another thing that he possessed greater than everyone was his love for the village. That's what drove him to take an attack meant for me."

Naruto remembered this scene well. It was a frightful scene. A bunch of large wooden stakes were going to impale him. Hinata attempted to protect him with her own body. But it was eventually Neji that jumped to take the attack alone. He was impaled multiple times, bled profusely from each fatal wound, and he fell before them, nearly dead. Hinata cried many tears as she watched her beloved cousin fade from her. Sakura came to the scene, but she was too late. Neji gave him one last smile and simply stated his reason for sacrificing his precious life. His seal began to vanish…

"_Because you said I was a genius."_

"Neji didn't die in vain. His death strengthened the entire allied forces. We were fighting a losing battle before…but everything changed. Because Neji died, everyone resolved to fight harder so we wouldn't lose any more lives in that war." Naruto said as the happy tears escaped the brim of his eyes. "And he gave me the power and strength and will to fight at the head of the battle. And I managed to defeat Obito because of this guy. I owe him everything."

Naruto's frail smile suddenly turned confident and he wiped away those tears. "That's why I was so damn determined to give him the acknowledgement he never had! As far as I'm concerned, Neji's stone deserves to rest forever here for everyone to see!" He wanted the younger ones to look at this stone and realize what a perfect ninja Neji became.

However Ryuu remained silent as he kept his eyes on the inscription. Neji Hyuga? He died loving his village and everyone in it. He was a genius. He was a great ninja. He was the person Naruto looked up to the most. Undoubtedly, he was the true hero of Konoha.

Ryuu wished he met this man.

"You know…Naruto-sensei…I think I understand it a little better." Ryuu softly remarked. To love one's village? And protect it? "As far as I'm concerned, you're an idiot and Sasuke is the better ninja. And you should take care of that stone."

"H-Hey…" Naruto nervously chuckled. That was a little bit harsh.

"But Neji Hyuga's Will of Fire was to love and protect." Ryuu raised his clenched fist, firing up with renewed determination and resolve. "I don't care if I don't become a Chunin! This village, my teammates, and everybody are my home! I will put my life on the line to protect it! I don't care what they think of me anymore. I will still love and protect this Will of Fire!"

"That's the spirit!"

The boy also added, "And if that Dead Last even touches Kina-chan in their match, I'll beat that asshole until he's begging for her mercy!"

"Now let's not get too carried away." Naruto confidently said. This boy was really something! "Ready to start training?"

"Let's go!"

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><p><em>It's kind of cheesy...I know. But Neji was one of my favorite characters and I wanted him to have a prominent role in this story. I wrote this before recent chapters so Obito is referred as the final boss instead of Madara. Just deal with it. Besides, this story takes place after the war so everything is over by then.<em>


	19. Confessions

_I am on a roll! Now that I am on break, I can finally update this story! I have such a detailed plot outlined for this, but I couldn't get around it because of college. Now that there is no college...enjoy this story!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 19: Confessions<strong>

"Yui! Sis!"

"Aya?" Hana suddenly paused in her training. She was currently doing some sparring with Yuuichi.

"Guys! You can't believe what I just found!" Ayame held up a magazine in pure excitement! "I can't believe they sell 'Master of the Shinobi World' here! And the author lives in Konoha! I want to get his autograph!"

Yuuichi sweat dropped and groaned. Typical Ayame...always acting like her ditzy self. He glanced at Hana, who was blushing a little after the mention of that book. These twins had so much in common, including their mutual interest in erotic novels. How vile! How is it that he was the only person to stand these twins?

"Get me a copy." Hana whispered and her little, perky sister nodded.

"Okay Ayame, that's very exciting but we have to train." Yuuichi sternly said, "You can get it yourself."

Ayame pouted at their reluctance to play with her, but she relented knowing that training was important. If only she passed the preliminary matches, then she could have a chance to train with her sister and teammate! Although...speaking of that match...

"I ran into that guy I fought. That Mist ninja is an outsider!"

"Aya..." Hana reluctantly asked as she knew her sister can jump to pretty weird conclusions. "Just because a guy beat you doesn't mean he's an outsider."

"No! He is! I saw the mark on his chest." Ayame frantically replied and pointed at her own body in that exact location. "I tackled him and found the tattoo."

"This could be trouble..." Yuuichi murmured. The outsiders were a loosely connected group of different kekkei genkai clans that had been at opposing ends with Kirigakure. Previously, they were the outcasted kekkei genaki clans before the reform happened. Now, they wanted to have some political power in the village even though they lived on separate islands. Since the long oppressed kekkei genkai groups could finally come out of persecution, they were taking this advantage as far as possible. Their Mizukage has been trying endlessly to come up with some sort of agreement, but it seems that the outsiders weren't satisfied.

"Yuuichi, why would an outsider team come to Konoha for the Chunin Exams." Hana suspiciously asked. "It doesn't make sense. Our Mizukage hasn't extended the ranking laws to the other islands."

"I'm going to report this to sensei. You two keep an eye out if that team tries anything sneaky." Yuuichi quickly disappeared.

Hana waited till their member was away. He was always the mature and serious one, not to mention the most sarcastic. But she guessed he had to be that way since he was dealing with a pair of twin sisters. Hana was never that serious. Neither was she carefree like her sister. She was someone...in the middle who liked certain habits. In fact, she'd rather not be scolded by Yuuichi for what she was going to do.

"You got a glance of the tattoo?"

"Yep. That guy has more. He's got tattoos on the other side of his chest and on both of his arms and they looked really nice!" Ayame cheerfully replied.

"Aya, are you possibly crushing on him?" Hana suspiciously stared at her sister. She knew this girl fell in love way too easily.

"Ew! Gross!" Ayame gagged for effect. "He fights with mud. That's double gross!"

"Good. Guys like him are only going to dump you after they're done with you." Hana warned.

"But that Yuki boy was looking so fine!" Ayame sighed. "I hope he beats the everlasting crap out of that jerk!"

There she goes again...falling in love at a drop of a hat...

_OoOoO_

Annoyed, Kinako made one of her signature moves in this game. Even so, she knew Shikamaru would have her in checkmate in five moves or less. All she managed to accomplish in her two weeks of this game was prolong her eventual defeat. Her sensei was way unlike Kurema. That guy was easy to read, even if he was following instructions using a radio. Kurema always moved his eyes around, usually to the direction of his radio earplug like he was really speaking to Shikamaru on his right. Kinako knew he was cheating from the very start, but she merely played along for a week to see what would happen. Now that she faced Shikamaru, she was basically facing a brick wall. He kept his cool and maintained focus. He was never a hard book to begin with, but whenever he sat in contemplation, Kinako was at a loss of how far he thought ahead. And he had a nasty habit of switching his thoughts, leading her into confusion.

She hated this setting. She loathed it. So far, she learned how to play shogi. But what was the point of playing against her sensei, the reputed reigning champ between shinobi? Winning against him was impossible!

And he just beat her in two moves...

"Shikamaru-sensei...what's the point of this? I don't get it." Kinako mumbled under her breath as she played with a fan in this hot day. They were now taking a break since they played from the morning.

"You haven't figured it out?" Shikamaru questioned her. He tossed over some snacks from a nearby convenience store.

Kinako glared at him and haughtily faced away. She hated that her sensei tended to pull tricks on her. Everything always had a secret meaning. Kurema said it was something he picked up from his deceased father. She retorted, "Figured out what? There is no point playing against you, Shikamaru-sensei. I'd rather be training in the fields."

"You do that, and then you'll be defeated by Academy students."

Kinako bit her lip and turned away again. "Did you subject your previous students to this torture?"

"No. They don't have this problem. Besides, they don't really enjoy shogi." Shikamaru stated. "And Kurema is the only person left in his team."

"Oh...I'm sorry."

"You didn't know or you didn't look far ahead." He sighed, "That is your weakness as a shinobi. You can see three steps ahead, but you can't strategize far enough to fight successfully."

"I'm not Shun-kun." Kinako deadpanned back.

"I know you're not and you shouldn't be. But it's hindering you from becoming a better ninja. You always think the first thing that comes to your mind is always the best move. I've been seeing this all over the board." He gestured to their game. "Your moves are always quick, which is good, but not well calculated. It showed prominently in your match against Sanae Amanashi. There were better ways to escape the genjutsu and you chose a method that was most likely get you killed."

"But what about Ryuu-kun? By that logic, he should have the same problem. He doesn't even think!"

"That boy has more endurance, strength, and power. He can withstand anything and deliver it back. You have none of that." Shikamaru explained. "You just have a finer control over your chakra and greater versatility with your techniques. Your wires can transform into anything you want and you have performed well in that field. But you just have to pick the correct move. That's why I had you play shogi for two weeks but you haven't improved."

"How can I improve!?" Kinako retorted. "I'm playing against you. I know no one can beat you! Not even Temari!"

He merely shrugged. "You're just not thinking this through. Think a little harder."

The little girl curiously stared at him. She saw nothing...or she couldn't think it. His cryptic answers were getting a bit annoying. She sighed in defeat and lied down against the patio. "I've been thinking for two weeks straight. I need a break. Tell me about you and Temari-sensei."

Shikamaru frowned. "We already established the ground rules, Kinako."

"Relax. It's just me." Kinako murmured. "And it's not like you're hiding anything. I know everything there is to know about you."

That is true...

"There's nothing interesting for you to know."

"Like how the match between your student and Temari's student caused a massive scandal in the village, not to mention, a major breakup between you and Temari." His always keen student blankly remarked. She wasn't even looking at him for a confirmation for her guess. "Have your past mistakes mended yet? I don't think so."

"First of all, this isn't any of your business. Secondly, you wouldn't understand because you are just a kid."

"I don't act like one." Kinako easily countered. The lonely girl sighed once again and hugged tightly onto her legs. "I was the weird one in school because I acted like this. That's what Papa always told me. He hated it when I talked to customers. I'd ask them simple questions like how their day was or how they were doing. He said it scared them away when I already knew the answer."

It had been a while since he seen her father. The shop was still running well in the day, even though Kinako mainly spent her time here. "How is your father?"

"He's fine...I guess..."

"That's good." She didn't look fine. She looked tired.

"Speaking of the shop, I remembered that Temari-sensei liked to buy dango on my shifts. It was her favorite." She listlessly remarked. "I could tell that she liked someone. She always denied it when she bought extra snacks. At the time, I didn't know it was you until I saw you waiting outside of the shop."

"What did you think of me then?"

"You were just her boyfriend. I didn't know you as a person." She answered. "It was sad that whole incident happened. I really thought you two were going to get married. Temari-sensei was always smiling a little around you."

The hell? "How much do you know?" She knew too much for it to be comfortable. In fact, he could see why she was shunned in the academy.

"Enough...I know everything there is to know." She said, "You think it's creepy, don't you?"

"Don't worry. I don't think it's creepy."

Kinako hesitantly asked, "Would you think it's cowardly of me to be scared of Shun-kun? He's just like you, but more ruthless. The more I lose to you, the more I think of how scary my match is going to be with Shun-kun. It sounds stupid right?"

"It's not stupid. You're scared. That's natural." Shikamaru said. "Besides, I think you guys won't fight to the death. It's pointless to kill your own teammate just because you're assigned to fight. So relax and focus on beating him."

She smiled at his reassurance. It made her feel a little bit safer. "I've told you about me. What about you?"

"Do you know what happened?"

"No...only the rumors."

She didn't know too much. That was a good thing. Shikamaru reached out and lightly nudged her head. "Like I said, a little girl like you has no business in my affairs. Just know that we're on better terms." Were they? He wasn't sure at this moment. Temari treated him as any other comrade. But sometimes, she would flat out ignore him and concentrate on her job. Other times, she'd hide away from him whenever he was on sight. They were close to friends, but things were still troubling...

She pouted and turned away. Yet another opportunity to make him speak, wasted.

Kinako finally left the Nara estate at the end of the day. She lost all ten of the matches today. That was expected.

She first headed home...only to find that her father closed up shop early. He also left to go out of town. That was also typical. She was about to go up to her apartment when she heard a familiar call.

"Kinako?"

The pigtailed girl turned around.

Temari stood before her in a long black kimono. She glanced up at the empty lights, narrowed her eyes, and sighed. "Did you just come back from training."

Kinako nodded.

"Why don't you come have dinner with me?" Temari softly suggested and took her by the hand. At least dinner with someone was better than always eating alone. "What do you want to eat? What's your favorite food?"

"You don't have to do this for me...I know how to cook for myself." Kinako softly replied and blushed that this woman was giving her the time and day. The absence of her father was so common for the neighbors that they just accepted the girl was a preferred loner.

"When was the last time you had dinner with someone else?"

"Umm...about half a year..."

"Then it's settled. We're going out to eat together." She completely dragged Kinako out to the center of Konoha. "What do you like to eat? Meat? Seafood? Veggies?"

"I like spicy beef stew."

Temari immediately led her into a small restaurant and they sat down for dinner.

"So how was training today?"

"Boring," Kinako grumbled as she spooned up her food. "Shikamaru-sensei refuses to teach me until I can defeat him in shogi."

"How typical..." Why was Shikamaru making a novice challenge him in shogi? It doesn't make any sense! No one could beat him. "He's just playing around with you because that lazy bum refuses to move."

"But Shikamaru-sensei is always so tricky. Was he tricky when he faced you in battle?"

Temari dropped her chopsticks. "You weren't even born. How the hell did you know that?"

"You just remembered your first fight against him," she bluntly replied.

"Ah...well..." Temari awkwardly coughed. "We fought and he won after a long match. It was mostly a tactical match between us where he attempted to lengthen his shadows to catch me and I was trying to hit him with my wind. He ended up catching me and forfeited the match afterwards."

"Did he prolong the match long enough?"

"No. You see, Naruto, the dumb blonde one, he dug a tunnel in the match before mine. Shikamaru just used that tunnel to entrap me from behind." To this day, Temari still acknowledged his brilliant strategy from that match. Everything he did during the match led her up to that crucial point. And that was why he became a Chunin first.

"Oh...how smart! He really does think outside of the box." Kinako marveled at such a feat. So how far should she think before outsmarting Shikamaru?

They quickly finished dinner and Temari walked her back home. She waved goodbye to the little kunoichi before heading off to check into an inn.

"So you decided to help her cheat?" A husky voice asked as the man himself appeared from the shadows.

Temari scoffed, "That's really cruel of you, making a little girl play you at shogi." She began to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"To check into an inn."

"Is my place too dirty for you?"

"No..." She already felt awkward there the first night. She never wanted to repeat those moments

"Hey! Stop running!" Shikamaru quickly caught her by the arm. "It's a bit late to check into any inns around here. Just stay with me again. It's not the first time."

"Shikamaru. We're just friends…nothing more." Temari wrestled her arm away. She tried to get away again, but she felt her feet trapped onto the surface of the ground. "Damn you…"

Shikamaru turned her around by his shadow and began their trek back. "Why do you always do this? The minute you get close to me, you try to leave. And yet, you always come back."

"What are you asking from me?"

"I'm asking you to stay."

Temari shook her head. She can't stay. She can't stay connected to him. She can't stay here. Everyone still ostracized her. She quitted as liaison. The higher ranked nobles looked at her with disdain while normal villagers remained curious of her continued status in Konoha. But even so, it was an unspoken rule to steer clear of her or any Sand folk. Even if Tsunade already issued a notice of forgiveness, everybody stayed away. That's why she can't stay here. Suna remains her home forever. This place wouldn't accept her, even when forgiven.

"I'm not going to stay." She defiantly answered, even though his shadows made her move against her will.

But the shadow ninja had it with this troublesome woman. How much more was she going to make him work? For three years, he crushed on her. For an extra two years, he finally confessed to her. And for three more years, he missed her. He'd been in love for nearly a decade. And he knew she was the same.

This, whatever it was, never changed…not even after all that has happened.

So he won't let her get away this time.

"I told you to stop running away." He closed the space between them. "It's not going to solve your problem here. I know you're scared."

"Scared!? Scared! Sabaku no Temari is never scared!" She angrily retorted. She wanted to ram his head with her fan for that one.

"Okay, geez woman. No need to yell at me." Shikamaru muttered. "No one gives a crap about it anymore. Sure the nobles are scared, but regular folks like you and me don't care. Everything blows over and it becomes a thing of the past. Let it go already." He smirked finally, taking away his previous gloominess. "And like I said, I'll protect you throughout it all. Guys like me need to protect their troublesome women."

Temari felt her heart skip a beat. How could he say such stupid things and yet, it always gets her? She sputtered, "I-I don't need protection. Stupid Crybaby."

"And yet, I'm not the one spilling tears."

She bit her lips and turned away. "Bastard."

He finally pulled her into a hug, caressing her head against his shoulder. She didn't-couldn't resist. But even when he released his shadow, she stayed there. "Temari. I love you. And I'm sorry I didn't protect you."

She choked and tightly held him. "I hate you."

Love was something they can't have. But being with him always made her forget that. So when she pulled him down for a kiss, she forgot it altogether.

The next day, Kinako faced Shikamaru once again. But this time, the Nara complex felt a little different...a little amorous… She noticed a few alterations when walking in such as small pieces of a vases neglected from sweeping or a crooked picture. Plus, if Kiba came along with her, he'll instantly know what was up and try to maintain what was left of Kinako's innocence. Nonetheless, the girl kept her cool and played innocent until she began their game of shogi. That was when she chose to attack.

"Shikamaru-sensei...how did things patch up between you and Temari-sensei?"

Shikamaru frowned. "Kinako…"

"I just sense her chakra in here. That's all." Kinako shrugged as she played her move. "But I saw you confess to her yesterday. How romantic!"

"Oh. Now you know, it's nothing special." Well...his heart was still leaping from last night that he couldn't sleep afterwards, even with Temari's warm, naked form snuggled up beside him.

"You're lying. You can't lie to me." Kinako smirked. "So...how long did you two play last night?"

"What are you implying?" That was a dumb question.

"I'm talking about your little romp in the love nest." She meant sex.

That's it! This was borderline creepy. Shikamaru reached out and pounded her head lightly. "Kinako! This is the final straw. You keep this up and we can forget about your training!"

"Ouch!" Kinako raised her hands to rub her head. "Alright. Alright. Gosh. It's my turn, isn't it?" She moved her knight and placed it right in front of Shikamaru's king. "Checkmate."

What? That's impossible. He made sure that every move she made would get her in a trap. Shikamaru glanced down at the board. Now that he looked closely, all of the pieces were moved around the board so she would win...and all the pieces had wires attached. "Cheater…"

"You never said how I should beat you. You only said that I should beat you in this game. A ninja should see past deception." Kinako smiled at her accomplishment. "Now time for some training?"

Shikamaru smirked. Oh well, she earned it.

At the end of the day, Kinako quietly sneaked out of her home and made her way to a neighborhood on the other side of Konoha. Even though she finally got over her training obstacle, something still threw her off. Now that she settled one score, she had to settle this one as well. When she sneaked into the courtyard, she saw that he was training well into the night.

"Shun-kun!" She whispered.

"Kinako!" Shun hushed for her to quiet down. He crept into her hiding spot. "What are you doing here? We can't see each other."

"I know, but…" She bit her lip. "Shun-kun. Whatever happens during our fight, let's do our best!"

He felt a small blush rise to his cheeks. "Kinako...I…"

"Shun-kun, I realized something. Shikamaru taught me to think a little more deeply. When I look at you then, I thought you were thinking of ways to fight me. But now I see you a little more clearly. You've been worried about me this whole time." Kinako took his hands and held them tightly. "Thank you, Shun-kun. Thank you for thinking so much about your teammate. You are a good ninja and person. But you can't do this. You have to fight for real. I'm not going to hold back. And you shouldn't either. Does that sound like a promise?"

Shun nodded. "Okay Kinako. I won't hold back. But know this, this is the first and last time I'm fighting you."

Kinako smirked and jumped away. "I don't think that's a promise you can keep, but you can try. Good night!"

Shun watched her leap away into the night with his heart still pounding in his chest. He never reacted like this before… He would get mad whenever she got too close to other guys, but alone, he treated her as a worthy teammate and an equal. This time...it was different.

"Our baby is in love!" Takeru sang right behind him.

"No I'm not! Shut up!"

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><p><em>Some feelings start to be known. And yes, Shikamaru and Temari did the do and Kinako noticed big time. Shun is starting to realize that he likes his teammate, even though it has been painfully obvious. And review!<em>


	20. Stage Three

_Alright, I'm just going to leave this here. It's been a while since I've updated. But Chapter 678 renewed my interest to continue this fic! ShikaTema is nearly official! That is such a canon moment! Screw anybody who tries to deny it! (I'm talking to you: ShikaIno fans…yes I've read the book and guess what? It's closer to canon than your OTP!)_

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><p><strong>Chapter 20: Stage Three<strong>

Shikamaru didn't give his students a time to meet up before their big day. So Kinako, Shun, and Ryuu decided to arrive at the arena. Ryuu was ready to go! He couldn't wait to trample all over that Mist genin! Shun and Kinako, on the other hand, were walking far away from each other. They didn't even look, except for slight glances. In their hearts, Kinako was worried and Shun was terrified.

They came upon cheering crowds beyond the wooden gates of the arena. Looking around, they spotted their teachers, friends, associates, and others looking down from the crowds. Ryuu blew kisses to his mother. Shun ignored the chuckles from his brothers, and instead, concentrated on the stare of his father. Kinako didn't even bother to look up. She knew Papa wasn't going to be there since she blew up at him before leaving the house. He didn't want her to take this exam, but she refused to listen. But she did spot Shikamaru and Temari glancing down from the balcony. From above, Gaara and Tsunade and Mei were watching from their highest seats. The other contestants were also there. Hana and Yuuichi waved to Ayame, who was jumping around excitedly in the stands. She also blew kisses to Ryuu, not that he noticed, and flipped off Akai, who also didn't notice and wasn't bothering to look into the crowds.

Finally, Naruto and Rock Lee enthusiastically greeted them upon entrance.

"Welcome! Welcome! Are you ready for your final exam!?" Rock Lee bellowed, "Let me hear you scream!"

No one yelled...except for Ryuu.

"I like your spirit!"

"Anyways, enough for introductions." Naruto announced. "Let's get this show on the road! First round goes to Kinako Keiganu and Shun Tetsuya. Everyone else move backstage and wait your match."

Shikamaru anxiously watched his two students as they faced each other. He couldn't see them before coming here, so he didn't know what they were going to do. Temari worriedly glanced at him before looking back onto the stage. She knew the relationship of these two friends. Two friends, forced to fight each other, are always hard to watch.

Soon, only Kinako and Shun were left in a vast circular arena. The boy looked ready to pounce while the girl held her ground.

"Ready…"

Kinako reached for her pouch. Shun prepared his tags.

"Go!"

"Web Whirlwind! Dancing Swarm!" Kinako launched her nimble form into the air as the wires wrapped around the entire top of the arena, forming a large web that encompassed the field. She now hovered above Shun, making him a target for a hawk. Her fingers clutched onto a single strand, pulled it up, and let out a thin blade of sharp air. Over and over, she danced around her web to pull as many strands of it.

Shun was quick to dodge that spurt of wind, barely missing that deep slash on the ground. She's got him surrounded! He grabbed four tags, dragged his foot into a circle whilst dropping said tags, and sealed himself into a barrier. This could protect him for a little while.

"It seems we've hit a stand-off, Rock Lee," Naruto announced from his announcer's box.

"Yes. It seems this fight is going nowhere. Kinako has got him surrounded, but her blades cannot pierce his barrier. While Shun is protected by his seals, he cannot get out of his cage."

Each blade made a deeper mark into his barrier, weakening its strength. Shun knew he had no time left. She was going to hack him into pieces if he remained a sitting duck!

Kinako shot a few more blades and watched as her attacks created a dusty storm beneath her. Suddenly, a kunai shot out from the storm, between the strands of her web, and flew right by her. It was only a moment, but that moment was enough to catch the tag on the kunai. Transportation tag? She pulled all her wires together, forming a ball to shield herself.

"Rock Lee! It seems the storm has cleared!" Naruto excitedly announced. There was no one in the field.

"What!? Where is everybody?" Rock Lee exclaimed, pulling his microphone with him as he jumped his desk. "Kinako is probably in that pinata, but where is Shun? He's completely gone!"

He disappeared into another dimension. Kinako knew this much. She'd been through this dimension a few times when Shun was teleporting her. All those times, she was in there for a few seconds, maybe minutes. But knowing Shun, he could stay in there for hours. And knowing Shun, he made this whole arena a trap for her. How the tables have turned…

Kinako unraveled her ball of wires and retracted everything back into her pouch. She landed in the middle of the arena, wide open, and waiting for his attack. "Shun-kun, stop running away!"

Shun snuck a peek out of a tiny tear. Now was time to answer the age old question: how the hell was he going to attack Kinako without harming her? Even with his intensive and ruthless training with Sasuke, he still had no idea how to face his teammate and good friend. And he can't kill enough time in this alternate dimension. Kinako eventually will figure out every pathway into his hiding spot, eliminate his tags until one remained, and weed him out. And he could only hide a few tags in the time given. One behind a tree, one on a wall, one under a bush, one hanging from a balcony around the arena, and a few more here and there behind her.

"Shun-kun. I know how your game works. You need an exit tag."

Shit! Shit! Shit! How is he going to take her down without hurting her? There's no time!

Kinako's legs shook in fear as she held her ground. She didn't want to be the one to start the hunt. She was hoping that Shun could be attacking her and she would be in defense. She was vulnerable and he was trapped. Both of them were each other's prison.

"Shun-kun...come out now. Let's fight this, face to face."

Think! Think! Shun scratched at his forehead, desperate for some random plan to save him. How to defeat her without hurting her? How?

"I know all your tricks." Kinako threw a few shuriken and tore up the tag on the wall, the tag on a tree, and the tag from a balcony. "You're going to have to come out. I can't follow you forever."

Crap! Shun reappeared under the bush and concealed himself amongst the foliage.

"Shun-kun...I'm just like you. I'm scared too. I don't know what's going to happen. But I'm ready to fight. So come out!"

"I guess I have no choice." Shun stood up. "I know your tricks too, Kinako. You had this arena rigged ever since you came in here. You probably laced this place with a hundred wires. I'm surprised I see no twinkling from the walls."

Kinako smirked. "Why did I have you come out there? On the ground?"

Wires shot out from under his feet and wrapped around his entire body. He felt like a bug trapped in a cocoon. She pulled a good one. She must have seen it coming a mile away. Shikamaru trained her very well.

"Chidori!"

"Huh?" Shit! Kinako released any connection to her wires. She could be fried! Luckily, she managed to break away before the blue flash hit her.

Ryuu literally dropped his jaw and began shooting daggers at Naruto. "Hey! You jerk! Sasuke-sensei taught him Chidori! Why didn't you teach me Rasengan!? Huh!?"

"Wow! It seems that asshole went hard this time!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura shot a look at her smirking husband. "Tricky bastard. You gave my unit more of a mess to clean up."

Sasuke shrugged, "I had to one up that dobe somehow."

Kinako jumped off the ground and stuck herself to a concrete wall. That was a close one! But he just confiscated most of her wires. She watched Shun untangle himself from her wires. There was still a small chance. She reached in her pouch and pulled out a single strand, letting it fall to the ground and snake for another strand.

She got it! Kinako lifted her head. Shun was gone.

"Too late!" Shun reappeared from behind her, holding a tag he placed on her wire from when he threw a transportation kunai. "I'm sorry." He struck her neck.

Damn… "I'm not going down that easily." Kinako stretched her fingers and the wires jumped up, taking down trees and parts of the walls, preparing an avalanche of stuff in seconds.

"Whoa! That's double the landslide from the preliminary rounds! Don't you say Rock Lee?"

"Wait Naruto! Where are they?"

Once the rubble cleared, the audience clearly saw Shun standing with clouds surrounding him, bloody fingers, and a hastily drawn seal on his other hand. He held Kinako in his arms and she was safe as well.

"You still escaped. I didn't think you would plan this all out." Kinako heavily breathed.

Shun shook his head. "I didn't. I was thinking on my feet."

"Oh...I see you also learned a few tricks from Sakura. You paralyzed my body."

Sasuke shot a look at his snickering wife.

"What? I couldn't resist. He got curious."

Kinako sighed and said, "You win, Shun-kun. I forfeit this match. I'm all out of chakra. Playing with wires sucks the life out of you."

"The winner of this match goes to Shun Tetsuya!"

Shun nodded and walked out of the arena while carrying Kinako.

She chuckled a little. "Why are you still holding me? You should get back to your tournament! The medics can take care of me."

"I just want to deliver you to a recovery room...seeing how I caused you to not move..."

"Hmm...Hey Shun-kun! So what were you thinking during the match?"

"I didn't want to hurt you?" How ironic that turned out to be.

"You're quite a gentleman."

And Shun was ever so happy to hear those words coming from her.

_OoOoO_

Ryuu smirked and jumped into the arena. "Hey! It's my turn! Everyone listen up! I'm going to beat the crap out of this guy!" He aggressively pointed out to Akai, who phased up from the arena's ground.

Hana and Yuuichi quietly observed from the sidelines. Suddenly, Hana whispered to him, "If that kid makes any moves, we jump in."

"I know my orders." He hushed back.

Their other member remained in the stands of the audience. Ayame's eyes glinted of anticipation as she grinned like a cat. "This is going to be interesting." She caught the looks of her teammates. "Yeah, yeah. I get it." She made a few hand signs, formed a circle with her fingers, and concentrated it on Akai. "The second you make a move, Mister, I'm going to annihilate you."

Shun smirked once he returned to the waiting room. "Do your best, Gate Jumper."

Mei Terumi observed from her seat as a Kage. That 'Akai' guy, she did not really recognize. He must be from the outsider islands. Which ones? She was still in the process of reuniting the entire island country of the Land of Water. Everything was still a mess. Coming here to the Chunin Exams was a good break from the chaos back at home. Plus, she had her eyes set on the most interesting boy from her homeland: that Yuki boy.

"Say, Lady Tsunade," Mei asked her fellow Kage beside her. "I hope you don't mind if I take this little one off your hands. The Yuki clan was once a renown clan of my country."

"That is completely up to him," Tsunade replied, "But it seems the kid and his mother plan on staying here."

Mei sighed. "What a shame! Curse the Kage before me."

Tsunade chuckled at her friend. "Try to enjoy the show."

"How was that first fight everybody!?" Naruto yelled into the cheering crowds. "Now it's time for our next match! Ryuu Mizuno vs. Akai Kasunoko! Are you ready!?"

Ryuu scoffed, "I was born ready!"

"Watch your words…" Akai glared at him.

"Ready…" Rock Lee stood between them, ready to begin the match. "Start!"

"Water Release! Wild Water Wave!"

Shun wanted to faceplant himself into a wall. That idiot! His opponent's main weapon was mud...so adding water was possibly one of the worst moves possible! What the hell was he thinking?

Ryuu grinned with satisfaction, only to be met with a humongous puddle of mud that's increasing in size. That grin slowly turned into a frown and then despair. Fuck! What did he do?

Akai stood in the center of this large puddle. "You started this match so much in my favor." He squatted down and planted both hands into the mud. The water and dirt began to swirl around, creating two whirlpools. "Mud Release! Twin Tower!" Suddenly, two towers sprung up from the whirlpools, growing barely past the top of the arena. Akai leaped to the very top of one of the towers.

And he held up one hand.

"What the hell is he doing?" Ryuu prepared his hands for another jutsu.

"Strange guy…" Ayame mumbled, but out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the man sitting beside her suddenly leap out. That bastard! This was a siege! She brought her hands back out. "You're going down, outsider! Hidden Technique: Iris Eye!" A beam shot out right for Akai.

But it was too late.

He planted his palm into the tower, splaying mud all around. At the same time, many ninjas jumped out from the stands, creating a thick blanket of mist to envelope the whole arena.

Ryuu glanced back and forth, side to side, all around. What is going on? It didn't end well for him as someone knocked him out from behind and dragged him into the second tower.

"What the hell!?" Shun watched the horror unfold before him. What's going on? He couldn't see anything in that mist. But next to him, another genin was trapped in mud and the mist enveloped him, knocking him out in the process. The mist can knock a person unconscious with one whiff. One blob of mud was aiming right at him! Shun threw a seal onto the wall and jumped into it, appearing outside of the arena.

"Shun!"

He turned around to a familiar face. "Sanae?"

"Oh good! You made it out!" Sanae called out for her teammates. "Kenji! Megane! I found an ally!"

"Shun! Where's the rest of your team?" Kenji demanded.

That prick was probably wondering about Kinako. "She is safe in Konoha's infirmary ward. Ryuu is still in the arena. I don't know his status."

Within the arena, Akai saw his teammate, Terumi, grab Ryuu and disappear into the second tower, which began to melt down into a puddle. He observed as his mud encased hundreds of people into frozen cages. He watched the mist render these crowds of ninjas useless. Now's his chance to escape! His role was finished!

"Not so fast!"

He watched as a girl with short, shoulder length black hair appear. Crap! It was this girl!

Ayame's beam struck at his feet, creating vines that sprouted to capture him. More vines grew out around the arena, trapping them in a cage. Ayame shot out and landed on top of his entanglement, her eyes mere inches from his. In her hand was a kunai knife. "You're mine! This is round two, outsider!"

Her teammate, Hana, ran for the Kage's booth. Yuuichi got captured by the mud. So it was up to her to find the Mizukage and protect her. "Lady Mei! Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine." Lava mixed into the mud, hardening the mud, creating a mold far from hurting the Kages. Mei stopped spouting lava once she sensed the attack stopped. "I'm terribly sorry, Lady Tsunade. It seems my troubles came into your village."

"Mei! Explain yourself!" Tsunade yelled.

"Those ninjas that attacked...they are the outsiders of my village. They seemed to infiltrate your village for some reason I do not know."

"Lady Mei! My teammate and sister, Ayame, is currently engaging Akai Kasunoko, one of the outsiders. Yuuichi has been compromised. The rest seem to have fled. Ryuu Mizuno is not in sight!" Hana reported. "Lady Mei, I'm awaiting your orders!"

"Lady Tsunade, I recommend you lead your villagers to safety." Mei suggested. "My squadrons and I will hunt down these scoundrels. Gaara, I'll appreciate if you can lend a hand."

"Understand" Gaara replied and disappeared in sand.

"Hana-chan! You come with me!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Across from the Kage's booth, a strike of lightning punched through the encasement of mud. Sasuke emerged from his cage, holding onto Sakura beside him. He scoffed and flicked off some mud on his hair. "Sakura, go to Tsunade."

"Okay Sasuke-kun! Be careful out there!" She disappeared from his side.

"Where's that dobe?" He glanced around the arena, looking at all the encased spectators. Naruto would be in the announcement booth, which he was not present.

"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto grinned from the arenas floor, holding up a body. "I'm one ahead of you!"

"Dobe!" Sasuke leaped forward and smacked him across the head. "We've just witnessed a siege and you want to compete over a body count!"

"Hey you two!" Gaara joined them. "I'll need you guys to hunt these intruders down. I know you're the best of Konoha."

"Heh! This reminds me of our first Chunin Exams! Except it was the Sand who did the invading!"

Gaara shot a look at Naruto.

"Knock it off dobe." Sasuke slapped him again. "Kazekage Gaara. What are your orders?"

"Take as many of them down. Don't let them escape."

_OoOoO_

"Please...just give this to her." An old man handed Kiba an envelope and quietly left.

Kiba stared at this envelope and back at the man. What did her father have to give her? He placed the envelope away into his jacket and quietly continued down the hallway. He travelled four doors down from around the corner, just as instructed. And there she was. Safe and sound.

"Yep. She's secure. Nothing's happening around here." Kiba reported back to his superior as he held guard over Kinako's room.

Akamaru loudly barked once he witnessed a few ninjas jump by the hospital.

"Shh! Akamaru! We can't draw attention here!" Kiba wrestled his dog to keep him back into the shadows. They had to stay hidden or else, Kinako may be in danger.

She was resting peacefully in a hospital bed with curtains drawn. Even though she suffered no injuries and the paralysis was only temporary, they moved her here once the siege happened. Kiba and Akamaru managed to escape the arena without much damage and he volunteered to guard her.

Kiba gazed into the large window of her room while fingering through the envelope in his hand.. "Poor girl…how am I going to break this to her?"

* * *

><p><em>Yep, another siegeattack/invasion happened. Sucks for all Chunin Exam arcs. To be honest: I' just lazy and just didn't feel like writing matches. Matches are so boring to write. I really only cared about the Shun vs Kinako match. The rest was fodder. Read and review please!_


	21. Rescue Ryuu!

_I finally updated! Still not dead, just working my ass off a lot. Now I finally got the time to post this chapter!_

* * *

><p>Chapter 21: Rescue Ryuu!<p>

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, Kuromo smashed through the window and began his search through the Hokage's desk. He rummaged through papers, contracts, documents, and other such useless things. He wanted that scroll from that stupid little daimyo boy. He needed that scroll. Or else, he failed his mission. Where did it go here?

But a shadow crept to the bottom of his feet and sealed away his fate.

"Looking for something?" Shikamaru coolly asked as he leisurely stood by a doorway. Under his feet was the stretching shadow, leading right towards Kuromo.

Temari appeared out of a doorway. "You're a genin from the Mist? Shouldn't you be cheering on your teammate...or telling us where your friends took his kid?"

"I don't have to tell you anything!" Kuromo growled.

Temari sighed. "If only Kinako was here. This would have been much easier." She summoned her fan and brought it behind her, preparing her first swing. "If you don't tell me anything, I'll chop you to pieces. How does that sound?"

The genin gulped a little, but he held his ground. "I won't break!'

"Suit yourself. First Moon!" Temari swung her giant fan, creating a tornado of wind at him. Windows broke. Papers flew everywhere. Shards of glass laid everywhere, cutting up Kuromo as well.

And the genin fell over, unconscious.

"Our interrogation unit will have fun digging through this boy." Shikamaru remarked. "I think he's searching for that scroll we retrieved in our last mission."

"They're not attacking Konoha outright like last time. Their presence here doesn't involve Konoha. But they're searching for something from Ryuu and that scroll. But what could it be?" Temari reasoned.

"Shikamaru! Temari!" Tsunade bellowed. "What happened here?"

"We detained an intruder." Both answered.

"Lady Tsunade, would you mind telling us what's going on?" Shikamaru asked.

"There seems to be some internal conflict within the Mist. Something involving 'outsiders' and a disconnected island country. Right now, I've mobilized our medical forces with Shizune and Sakura as captains. Gaara is assisting Mei in the counterattack. My main concerns are to bring the villagers to safety."

"Lady Tsunade, what are your orders?" Temari asked.

"You two are the smartest of them all. Figure out what these intruders are doing in my village and make sure we are ten steps ahead. Understood?"

"Yes!"

"Disperse!"

Shikamaru and Temari leapt out of the window and began travelling to the balcony. This way, they could see the entire village and it's situation. Right now, it seemed that the main conflict is taking place outside of the village.

"Shikamaru, it seems everything they're searching for is related to the Mist. They have Ryuu now and our forces are searching for him. The scrolls are locked away. What else do they want? There's too many separate groups to keep track of."

"So far, there's only two reported incidents: the arena and the Hokage's office. Everything is related to the Mist so the other radical is…his mother, Yukie."

Temari's teal eyes widened and she jumped off the balcony. Shikamaru merely watched what transpired in seconds. She was always jumping so fast into these things. He followed her.

At their location, Yukie was tending her small plants during the siege. Suddenly, she heard a sharp knock on her door. "Now who could that be?" She opened it to find a man with a mask.

"Yukie Mizuno of the Yuki clan, you're coming with me."

Yukie's icy blue eyes narrowed as she hid her hand behind her. "What did you do to my little boy?" The woman revealed her fingers, tipped in sharp ice, and held it up to the man's neck. Her kimono began to frost with ice. Her hair frosted with ice to the very tips. Even ice began to form from her feet, creating a slippery ice surface.

"We are asking you nicely. Come with us." More ninjas appeared. "Or we take you by force."

"And I'm asking you right now! Where is my son!?" She shrieked in fury.

Yukie kicked her foot against the ground, shooting ice from the surface. The ninjas stumbled back, right into a pile, just as she wanted. She did a few quick handsigns and melted into the ice. "Ice Release! Demon Ice Mirrors!"

"She's activating the clan's signature attack. Don't lose focus men!" They jumped into a circle to cover all surroundings.

Ice mirrors rose around them, creating a frosty cage. A beautiful woman appeared in that ice with her fingertips laced with ice. Even if she had a cold kekkei genkai, her eyes were lit with fire. Yukie swung her arm, launching little icy shards.

"Scatter!" They covered themselves in mist where the shards flew through.

"Moving fast won't help!" Yukie jumped out, kunai in one hand and ice needles in the other. She slashed into the mist twice and disappeared in another mirror.

Two men fell out of the mist with bloody wounds.

"Damn! She's powerful. Just what I'd expect from-" He didn't even finish as Yukie cut him down.

For her final attack, she reappeared in all the mirrors and held out both hands. "Ice Needle Attack!" Millions of icy needles shot out from all directions, puncturing each men in her cage.

Soon, they were just a bloody mess on her porch.

She melted her mirrors and wiped a speck of blood off her cheek. Yukie picked up the first man and froze his whole body into a standing position. "I'll ask again. Where. Is. My. Son!"

"Yukie-san!" Shikamaru yelled once he and Temari made it.

"Hello. I assume you're here to collect these men. I'm going to ask if you can wait on this one because I'm trying to find my son's whereabouts from him." Yukie said and tightened her grip on her victim.

"Yukie-san. It's okay. There are many of our finest ninjas hunting down your son right now." Temari reached out to lower Yukie's arm.

"Besides, he probably won't help much. It seems their operations are very independant from each other." Shikamaru explained. "Yukie-san, can you please come with us to Lady Tsunade?"

"What about my son!?"

"I assure you, we will find him."

_OoOoO_

Shun searched deep into his Space Tracker jutsu. He watched as a bunch of ninjas leapt through this area and make a sharp turn to the left. And in that group, he saw a noticeable white head of his friend. "They went that way." Shun jumped in that direction.

"Megane, send your recon-trackers ahead." Sanae instructed and followed after.

"Right!" Megane threw a bunch of small robots that flew ahead.

They travelled in a diamond formation. Shun stayed in the front so he could track down their general direction. Sanae stayed behind him and to the left with her katana drawn out. She gave commands and she would be the first line of offence if they ran into an enemy. Kenji was right next to Sanae, also the first line of offence as well as defense. His light techniques allowed him to cover a lot of ground and to act fast. Finally, Megane was in the rear where he could control anything happening before him, such as his tracker bugs.

"Shun! Do you know what's going on? Who are these people?" Sanae asked.

"I don't know! I don't care! They got Ryuu!"

"Look Shun! We want to save him too!" Kenji shot back. "But you're going to have to tell us the situation or we can't help you!"

"What are you going to do!? You don't even like him!" Shun retorted back.

Kenji frowned, sprinted a few feet forward, and punched Shun across the face.

"Kenji!" Sanae exclaimed. "This is not time to pick a fight!"

Kenji ignored her. "You're right I don't like Ryuu. He doesn't shut up. He thinks he's hot stuff. He is one of the most annoying things I've met in my life. But he is still a ninja from Konoha. He is one of us. And I'll put my life on the line for any of us. So why don't you stop thinking of my team as your enemies and tell us what's going on so we can find the actual enemy!"

Shun glared back at him and cursed in his mind. He was right. So Shun spilled everything. He told them about Ryuu's clan, his rare ice kekkei genkai, his affiliation with the Mist, everything. Shun didn't know much so he told everything in speculation. But the Triple B seemed to understand the situation from his words.

"Alright! Megane, expand your perimeter. Concentrate on any little drop of water in the air. Onee-san, you stay with Shun. We're spreading our team to cover more distance."

"Got it!"

"Shun!" Sanae sped ahead to follow him. "Do you think Ryuu will be fine?"

"I know it. The idiot will always find a way to free himself. The only problem is that he has no exit plan. He'll get himself caught if I'm not there."

"I know that feeling Shun." Sanae shot a grin. "Kenji always wants to be the big boy leader. But he's still a stupid kid for me to keep tabs on. I'm surprised he managed to handle this."

"Alert! Alert!" Megane's voice blared from one of his robots. "There's a pack of ninjas approaching us from the north!"

"And that's where I come in!" Sanae performed a few hand signs and casted a large genjutsu. She pulled Shun out of the direction of the oncoming ninjas and brought him into hiding. "Here" She held out Megane's tracker. "Megane will help you for the rest of the trip. I casted a genjutsu so they think you're still here with us. They may want you because you're Ryuu's teammate. Go!"

"What about you?"

"Kenji is probably dealing with these ninjas all on his own. I have to help my little brother." Sanae turned around and raced off, not before saying, "Think of it this way: he owes you one after all this. So you better save Ryuu!"

"I will!" Shun jumped away.

"What a cutie…" Sanae coyly muttered as she drew out both katanas, ready to join the fray.

Shun followed the path laid out by Megane while following his tracking jutsu. But still, they weren't getting anywhere close to Ryuu. They were on the right track...but he was still so far away.

"Megane! How far can this bug travel?"

"As far as I want." Megane responded through the speaker. "But right now, I'm busy handling a situation here. There were more ninjas than I anticipated so Kenji and Sanae have their hands full."

"Can't you make it travel further? Even just a little?"

"Look idiot! I have my hands full. I can only do so much! You're smart! You figure something out!"

Damn it! Shun could expand the area covered by his jutsu, but he was not powerful enough. He had to save Ryuu! Shun grabbed a special tag and tied it to the bug. He instructed Megane to fly it even further and concentrated his chakra right on that tag. This would increase his range by a little, but if he could concentrate enough, he could probably breach a few more meters. He made a few hand signs and pulled all his reserves into that tag.

Suddenly, he sensed the chakra of that familiar idiot.

"Please!" Shun silently prayed. "Sense my chakra!"

Ryuu's eyes flew open. He saw the forest floor and branches whiz right by him, but he wasn't moving himself. He looked up and saw an unfamiliar face holding him. "Who are you?" No answer.

Ryuu sensed Shun's chakra trailing not far from them. Was he being kidnapped? Damn it! His match! What about his match? Ryuu angrily tore a tag from his clothes and slapped it on the unknown ninja's back. "Emergency tag: activate!"

Poof! Shun appeared out of the ninja's back and he twisted his body for a kick.

"You're late!" Ryuu smirked and kicked the ninja again from underneath. "Just a little over a second late!"

"You didn't wake up!" Shun kicked him even higher. "But I still came."

"Fine! Let's finish him off and go back!"

"What about Kinako? We need her part!"

"Improvise!"

Ryuu and Shun jumped above the ninja. Shun threw wires at him, tying him up somewhat. Ryuu summoned multiple mirrors, cocooning the man. Meanwhile, Shun made two seals at the head and foot of the ninja.

"Ice Space Barrage!"

Two boys relentlessly pummeled the ninja left and right, back and forth, repeatedly. Once he fell near the ground, both boys struck him in the stomach to bury him further.

"Ha! Nice! We just took out an enemy!" Ryuu high-fived Shun.

Shun suddenly jumped up. "Wait! Someone's watching us!"

"What?"

"I sense someone!"

A rustle was heard not far away.

And then, Sasuke appeared out from the opposite direction. "I finally found you boys." He spoke into his headset. "The target has been located. He's safe and sound."

"Sasuke-sensei!" Shun yelled and pointed in the ninja's direction. "He just ran off! You might catch up to him!"

"We're sending ANBU troops. Right now, let's get you back into Konoha."

_OoOoO_

"Ayame! Ayame!" Hana yelled and banged against her sister's field. "Please be alive!"

"Hana! Back away!" Mei pulled the little girl away from the black field.

It was slowly disintegrating away, leaving two bodies. Ayame was lying on her side, physically exhausted from her fight. However, it seemed like she was the victor as Akai laid not far from her with a kunai knife buried into his abdomen.

"Ayame!" Hana ran for her little sister, lifted her up, and shook her awake.

"Ow! Ow! You're being too loud sis!" Ayame whined. "But I beat him, finally. Took a while. Shame...he was kind of cute."

"You're so weird…" Hana weakly replied.

"Send for some medics and detain him. I want that boy back in our village soon." Mei instructed her subordinates. "We've already caused enough trouble here."

"Mizukage! It seems the siege has ended. Their forces retreated once the Yuki boy escaped."

"Understood." Mei dismissed those ninjas. She sighed and rubbed her tired head. It seems the Chunin Exams needed to be suspended indefinitely. This was going to be a lot of clean up. At least these kids were safe.

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><p><em>And this concludes the Chunin Exams and the end of Shun's arc. I didn't tell you before but this story is organized in character arcs, one for each OC. Ryuu's arc was the formation of the team. Shun's arc is the Chunin Exams. And now Kinako's arc is coming up.<em>

_Read and review!_


	22. Congratulations

_Wow! It's nice to see there's still some readers! Before I go to college, I have to update this!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 22: Congratulations<strong>

The siege ended once Ryuu reappeared back into Konoha. The Mist ninjas deemed their attack a failure and retreated back just as discreetly as they came. Mei profusely apologized for the mess her village has caused and offered the Mist's full retribution for what has happened. Konoha managed to get one prisoner and he was due for a lot of questioning. The rebuilding of Konoha took around a week to do. Many of the outside villages departed from Konoha once they knew that the Chunin Exams were indefinitely postponed. But after one week, Tsunade decided to call in Ryuu and Shun to her office.

"My baby! Come here!" Yukie promptly bear-hugged her only son, much to his embarrassment.

Ryuu blushed. "Mom! Not now!"

Shikamaru merely smirked at this sight. Ryuu blushing red was a rare and hilarious sight to see. On the other hand, Shun didn't really care about that attention. But still, Shikamaru wanted to congratulate this little one. So he patted the boy's back. "You did a good job, Shun."

Shun cracked a small smile back. "Thank you, sensei."

"You may not have to call me that anymore."

"Huh?"

"Shun Tetsuya. Ryuu Mizuno. Step forward please." Tsunade said as she sat down before the two boys. Yukie and Shikamaru promptly stood back. "As you know, you two have taken the Chunin Exams. For Ryuu Mizuno, due to some circumstances and your natural abilities as a soldier, I have specially decided to promote you to the rank Chunin. For Shun Tetsuya, in all three parts of the exam, you've shown to be a natural leader and tactician. You have a chance to improve and become a fine ninja. For that, I hereby promote you to Chunin! Congratulations! May you two both grow to carry out the Konoha's Will of Fire and serve our village diligently."

"What!?" Ryuu incredulously exclaimed. "I can't believe it! Shun! We're Chunin! We did it! We became Chunin! Alright!"

For once, Shun smiled back for the good news. He made it. He became the second Tetsuya child to pass the Chunin Exam on their first try.

"Oh my baby!" Yukie ran up to hug her son. "I'm going to cook all your favorite food once we get home."

Shun just dreamed about rubbing all this in on Sojiro, the only Tetsuya son to not pass on his first try. He passed it on his second try.

Shikamaru just sighed. "My two kids have grown up."

Later that day, he decided to take the entire team out for lunch on him. It was the Ino-Shika-Cho joint in town: a local barbecue restaurant. Hopefully he wished his team would love this place just like Ino, Chouji, Asuma, and him love it. So far, only Kinako had showed up while Shun and Ryuu were fashionably late. Their new rank better not get to their heads.

Kinako was silently sitting across from Shikamaru, who was currently cursing out the boys for being half an hour late. She was looking out the window, scouting for the boys.

"Boys…" Shikamaru angrily grumbled. "You promote them to Chunin and they think they can break the structure of order. I'll kill them."

Kinako was silent.

Shikamaru weirdly glanced at his student. She was being very despondent. "Is something wrong?"

Kinako didn't answer.

"Are you sad that you're the only one in this team who didn't become Chunin? Don't be so hard on yourself. There's always another chance."

"I don't know…" Kinako suddenly shook her head and looked him straight in the eye. "You've had your hand in your pocket for the past half hour. Your eyes are troubled even though we are celebrating. You are biting your lip even now. A normal person would think that you are mad because the boys haven't shown up yet. My guess is that you are preparing for something big tonight, something that involves Temari. Something that involves a small object easily hidden in a pocket…like a ring?" She waited for his facial expression to confirm it. "I thought so. You're going to propose to her."

Even from the smallest glances, she basically exposed his entire plan for tonight. Such high analyzation skill made her a highly coveted ninja that should should have been Chunin. Was she aware of this? Was she annoyed or frustrated that she was the only genin now? And was she taking it out on him?

"Kinako, this isn't about me. I was going to tell you guys anyways. Is there something you want to say?"

She didn't even get the chance to answer because her teammates were barging in very loudly.

"The two Chunins are back!" Ryuu proudly announced once he and Shun entered with the Konoha flak jackets on. "Out of over two hundred candidates and we're the only two that are now Chunin! Best part: no one from Triple B got promoted! We celebrate tonight!"

"Shut up, Unwanted Immigrant. You're annoying the people here." Shun grumbled.

"I don't care!"

"Boys! Come over here!" Shikamaru waved those two over. He gave them two small boxes.

"What's this?" Ryuu opened the box and saw two small studs. "Earrings? Are you trying to turn me into a girl?"

"No." Shikamaru cringed, finding his students to be a little insensitive. "These are my gifts for your promotion to Chunin. My sensei also did the same thing." He showed them his earrings. "From now on, you two are full-fledged ninjas. You no longer need me as a sensei and a leader. We may do a few missions together, but you are going to train and improve all on your own."

"What about Kinako?" Shun asked, glancing at the girl.

"She stays with me for a little longer. She can take a separate exam by herself." Shikamaru explained. "Now, lets stop worrying about the logistics. Lets get some food. The beef here is really good! Choji can eat ten servings of it alone."

"Yeah! I'm totally ready for meat!" Ryuu immediately ordered five servings of beef for himself.

And they proceeded to cook and consume slabs of barbecue meat. Ryuu kept stealing most of Shun's meat so Shun started battling out with raw meat. Ryuu tried stealing Kinako's meat, who angrily fought chopstick battles with him. Finally, Shikamaru cooked Ryuu's food for him, knowing that kid was a complete baby.

Afterwards, Shikamaru decided to break the news. "So boys, I'm going to propose to Temari."

"Temari-sensei? What!? You have a thing with her!" Ryuu exclaimed while Shun facepalmed. "I didn't know!"

"You don't know anything," Shun grumbled, "Congratulations sensei."

"Wait! When was this? How long?"

"They've known each other since they were kids." Choji suddenly popped by with Ino in tow. "Dated for a while in their teens, she moved in with him, had a bad break-up, just recently got back together, and now popping the ring. Got you back up to speed? Good. Now move over. I want some meat!"

"Huh…you can't block away Choji from food." Ino sighed. "Anyways, congratulations. Now, for your wedding, I recommend these types of flowers for centerpieces and these flowers for the bouquet. Now usually these flowers cost an arm and a leg, but since you're my teammate and old friend, I'll give you a discount. How about that?"

"She hasn't said 'yes' yet, Ino." Shikamaru flatly replied.

"What? I'm just jumping ahead of the game." Ino simply said and winked at Kinako. "Part of the wonders of business. You should try it Kina-chan!"

"Maybe…" Kinako replied back as she popped some barbecue beef into her mouth.

"Bake him his wedding cake. You can make him do so many things if you give him a free cake."

"Ino!"

"I'm excited. Shikamaru is the first in our year to get married. And I can't wait to plan it all!" Ino exclaimed. "I can't wait to start dress choosing for Temari!"

"Anyways...Shikamaru, you ready for this? You realize that Temari will whip you for the rest of your life." A concerned Choji asked.

"As if my mother hasn't done that already," Shikamaru mumbled, "Look guys, I know what I'm doing and I want this. Really."

"Alright." Choji shrugged. "Best man? Best man."

"Best man." Shikamaru smirked.

"Hey sensei! Can we be in the wedding?" Ryuu asked.

"No."

"Sensei!"

"Knock it off, Unwanted Immigrant." A deadpanned answer came out from Shun.

"Shut up Dead Last!"

"We were made Chunin at the same time!"

Shikamaru groaned and planted his hand right in his face. There goes his boys making a ruckus again.

_OoOoO_

Due to recent events at the Chunin Exams, Temari decided to head back to her village earlier than usual. Gaara and other Sand members quickly headed back after they confirmed that this conflict didn't involve Suna. On the other hand, as far as she knew, the conflict involved Shikamaru's kid, Ryuu Mizuno, so Konoha was going to keep a tight leash on the boy. Luckily, the siege didn't leave a lot of damages in Konoha so repairs were going smoothly. Since she had really no business left, she thought it was unnecessary for her to stay any longer.

She already packed away her things into a carrying bag and she fastened her fan into her back. When she opened the door, she found Shikamaru instead.

"Leaving so soon already?"

She smirked. "I thought I'd head back now that my job here is done. I have my own village, you know."

"Before you go…do you want to take a walk with me?" He asked, peaking her interest.

"Do you want to see me just for a little longer?" Temari questioned with a knowing smile. "You do. How cute for a grown man like you."

"Oh, guess not. Have fun on your trip back." Shikamaru turned to leave, but he counted the seconds in his head.

"Wait!"

Just like he planned.

Temari placed down her bag and fan. "I think I can spare a few minutes with you."

Shiikamaru and her walked along their favorite routes of Konoha. This particular one passed through the main center of Konoha, some gardens, and up a hill where they would sit down and talk and look at the clouds. Sometimes, if they ended up at the hill at night, they would just lie down and look at the stars.

"So how are things going back in your own village?" Shikamaru asked.

"Fine. Gaara's been doing well and he's been thinking of promoting Kankuro to be his advisor." Temari answered but she frowned afterwards. "But for me...he's been telling me to think of other options I might like other than being a ninja."

"What would that be?"

"To be honest, I think he wants nieces and nephews." Temari glanced over at Shikamaru and chuckled at his blushing cheeks. "I'm kidding! Actually, I'm thinking of being a teacher at Suna's Academy. I taught there once and I'd like to retire teaching young kids."

"I guess that's a good retirement plan." Shikamaru mused. And his ultimate plan was still to retire and play shogi all day. "Temari, what do you think about Konoha?"

"Konoha? It's a nice place. Sometimes it's good to get away from the desert." Temari glanced at him. "You must really want me to stay longer!"

"No. That's not it." Shikamaru led her up some stone steps to get to their favorite hill. "What about staying for a while?"

"Hmm? Okay. How about I spend some vacation days here?" Temari said. "The hot springs here are really nice."

That was not what he was going for…

"So did Gaara really mean for you to start a family?"

Temari shrugged. "Probably. He's been cluing in about my age, my probable family, you."

"Heh." Shikamaru chuckled and muttered. "You know, if you did have kids with me, you would be a great mother."

Kids? Mother? The gears in her mind began turning. She could see that a significant blush rise to his cheeks and he dodged her gaze. "Was...was that a proposal?"

And he felt this was the worst possible idea possible. But he was too far into this to stop. "Temari, I'm in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He pulled out a silver and small diamond ring from his pocket. "Will you marry me?"

Four words. Four words would make or break the rest of her life. Temari nervously played with the ribbon on her back and thought long for this decision. She was going to stay here. That's what Gaara wanted, hence not giving her a high-position job. She was going to marry across villages. She was going to have kids and be a mother. Temari cracked a small smile and she took the ring. "You didn't even get down on one knee or prepare an elaborate proposal or give me this big speech."

"Was I supposed to?" Shikamaru surprisingly asked. He imagined this to be a simple affair, especially with Temari. "Wait! I can fix this. Give me back the ring!"

"No." Temari gave her brightest smile and slipped on the ring. "Yes, Shikamaru."

"Yes?"

"Are you suddenly stupid or something? Yes! Yes!" She collapsed into him, a kiss pressed hard against his lips. She loved him. Definitely. She also wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She also wanted to have his children. She could see herself as a mother. So, it's a yes. She tightly hugged his broad chest, burying herself into him because she loved him.

"Wow. That actually worked."

"It's something I'd expect from you." She shrugged. "Lazy as usual."

"You love it." Shikamaru wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, pecking her gently on the forehead.

Yeah, she did. "Are you sure about this? You're marrying Suna's princess. I might not be here a lot because Suna is my home too."

"Okay. Just take the kids with you sometimes to visit their uncles."

"You really want kids."

"Yeah."

Temari sighed and glanced up at the starry night. "You picked a good night to propose to me."

This was perfect.

_OoOoO_

"Hey...so you may be wondering why we decided to gather all of you." Tsunade said to a crowd before him.

A crowd composed of Ryuu and his mother, Shun and his family, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata gathered in the Hokage's office.

"Due to recent events that all of you are aware of, I've decided to send a special extended mission involving Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Ryuu Mizuno, and Shun Tetsuya. Because it's an extended mission, you're going to separated from your families. So Yukie-san and Tetsuya family, it's about time for your Chunin sons to fly from the nest."

"Ryuu…" Yukie rubbed her son's back as a way of letting him know that she was okay with this.

"Shun, it's time to step up as a ninja." Shun's father sternly said.

Sakura concernly asked, "How long is this mission?"

"I don't know. It depends on how long it will take to reunite part of the islands of the Mist. Maybe a year or two." Tsunade said, "This is serious. In order to strengthen our alliance with the Mist Village, I agreed to assist Mei in her island reunification plans. Ryuu and Naruto will go into the main village to assist the Mizukage. Ryuu is a wanted boy in the Mist so you two investigate what's that about. On the other hand, Sasuke and Shun will go undercover in the outsider islands to convince and manipulate them to reunite with the main village."

"Lady Tsunade...what if there are other things in concern...about our personal lives?" Sakura asked while eyeing her husband.

"I know, your pregnancy. Unfortunately, Sasuke must go on this mission because he is probably the most convincing person fit for the role. Traitors aren't a new thing with him." Tsunade remarked.

"Thanks…" Sasuke glanced back at his wife. "You're pregnant!?"

"Naruto-kun, you never solved the married couple's problem…" Hinata nervously asked.

"I tried. Sakura kept putting it off." Naruto shrugged. "At least, we won't have problems. Think you can survive without me for a long time."

"I'm more worried about my ascension into clan leadership…"

"Anyways, on the special notice of your pregnancy and the fact you were my best student, I've allowed Sasuke to leave this mission for vacation days." Tsunade explained, "Now, this will mean more pressure on you Shun. Think you can handle it?"

"Yes! Lady Tsunade!" Shun dutifully said.

"Notice that I arranged this specifically so Naruto and Sasuke can train their respective students while on this mission. This was a request from your sensei, Shikamaru Nara." Tsunade finally stated, "You will leave in a week. Meeting adjourned."

"I'm going to try and keep my two best friends and teammates together. Excuse me, Hinata." Naruto quickly ran after the arguing pair.

"Yes Shun! Our first mission as Chunin!" Ryuu hugged his best friend. "We are going to be the best ninjas ever! And I have another chance to learn Rasengan!"

"Don't hug me." Shun pushed his best friend off. But even so, he was swelling with silent happiness that he managed to skyrocket in the eyes of his father. His father even cracked a knowing smile at him. But the best part, he was going to train under one of the best ninjas as an official student.

So that night, the two boys celebrated together for everything exciting that has happened in their lives. They didn't seem to notice their last teammate, sitting alone in her bakery, reading and rereading the farewell letter from her last family member.

Tears dropped from her eyes. "Papa's gone..."

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><p><em>And everything just goes down the drain for Kinako. Don't worry. I'm not finished yet! Review please!<em>


	23. Kidnapping

_I'm not dead! I just had a lot of school. Fuck college. Naruto's over and now I'm determined to finish this fic! We are entering the last arc of the story and this arc is focusing on Kinako. The first arc was for Ryuu and the second arc was for Shun. Now it's Kinako's turn. And also, I'm so happy because ShikaTema is canon! Canon bitches! Their son is so precious! Shikadai is precious! Everything is precious!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 23: Kidnapping<strong>

"So...Shikamaru-sensei! What did she say? Is it a yes?" Ryuu badgered at his sensei.

"Yes Ryuu! Now can you shut up or you're going to ruin today's celebration," Shikamaru replied. How the the Hokage decided that this kid should be Chunin still boggled his genius mind.

"What are we celebrating this time?" Shun asked while nudging his friend to shut up.

"A huge send off party for you guys by everyone." Shikamaru explained, "Everyone is coming, even your fellow graduates. Choji wanted to bring them in to congratulate you. Temari, Ino, and Kinako should be arriving soon. I don't know about Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura."

"Triple B is coming!?" Ryuu cheered. "I can't wait to show my new vest to Sanae!"

"Yes, your new vest should sweep her off her feet." Temari sarcastically replied as she put down a bag of sweets on the table.

Kinako and Ino also came in with a bag of sweets each.

"Hey! Kinako-chan made us all dessert!"

Kinako put down her share and shot a look at her teammates. "There better not be leftovers! I stayed up all night making these."

"Wow! I can't wait!" Ryuu hungrily stared at the sweets with his mouth wide and watering.

"Careful. Don't ruin your appetite." Temari pulled Ryuu back.

"Well, well, well. Did you start without us?" Choji came in along with Sanae, Megane, and Kenji.

"Congrats Ryuu and Shun!" Sanae cheered. "We have our first Chunins of our group!"

"Pshh. I bet I can take them." Kenji scoffed.

"Yeah!? You wanna go?" Ryuu growled while Shun angrily stared daggers into Kenji's face.

"They're hopeless." Megane muttered as he tapped away on his tablet.

Finally, the original Team 7 came in. Naruto boastfully slammed open the doors of their party room while Sasuke followed behind with Sakura next to him. It seemed like they got over their fight since husband and wife were smiling.

Naruto quickly got on Ryuu's side and rustled his hair. "You get to deal with me for a few more years!"

"Hey! Are you finally going to teach me Rasengan!?"

"Nope!"

Shun glanced at his teacher and the wife. It was good they made up. "Everything well at the house?"

Sakura blushed. "Oh Shun!"

"Everything is going well." Sasuke hugged his wife. "She told me some news. I don't know why she didn't bother to tell me for the past few months."

"News?" Ino perked up, just as Hinata, Kiba, and Shino came in. "What news?"

"Some news has stirred our group!" Lee barged in. "I want to know!"

"Lee…" Tenten sighed, "We didn't get invited here for gossip."

"Well there isn't much news." Shikamaru said with a shrug. "I proposed to Temari and she said yes."

An audible gasp resounded across the party-goers. Naruto, on the other hand, simply grinned and shouted how he called it first and Kiba owes him money. And of course, Shikamaru's team was not surprised. Ino was squealing with delight and she made her way to Temari to discuss wedding arrangements.

"Sakura! Didn't you say you have news too?" Lee asked, turning everyone's attention to the married couple.

The pink-haired ninja blushed and shyly looked away. Everyone's eyes were on her. "Um…" She put her palm on her belly. "Sasuke and I are expecting a baby."

More squeals erupted, primarily from the girls. The guys simply patted Sasuke and wished him luck with the fatherhood. Lee, of course, was crushed and he was sadly moping with Tenten patting his back. The kids were horsing around as usual. Shun and Ryuu, the stars of the party, nearly started a fight with each other. Kinako merely shook her head and ate her cake.

And the party continued to celebrate everyone's new start.

_OoOoO_

A chestnut-haired girl cleared out the rest of the furniture and things in the bakery shop. There were no longer any small tables or chairs or decorative flowers and cakes out on display. Since this place was going out of business, she had to throw a few things out and hopefully sell everything else for some extra cash. Since her father was so courteous to leave her with a place that she couldn't manage, she decided that she can't balance a life as a ninja and a baker. It was originally a family run business after all...not that she had any family left. So really, she saw no point in keeping a bakery open for any longer.

She dragged out the last trash bag onto the curb and ran up the stairs to her old apartment. Most of the home furniture was going away as well. She only needed the bare essentials for her new home. On the table were documents to apply for assisted living in Konoha. She should probably get those filled out and done by tomorrow morning...but she wondered what her new home was going to be like. She no longer had a stepfather to yell and disagree on about her life choices. She barely remembered her mother. She was already living pretty much alone. She had to do the laundry, cook, clean, and take care of herself in general. She also had to work hard and become a Chunin so she could earn a living with a ninja career. But she got to do anything she wanted and no one was going to judge her. She was going to like her new life.

Alone.

What was she kidding? She was going to be alone. She no longer had someone waiting at home for her. She no longer had someone to share the dinner table. She no longer had someone to keep her company. She was an orphan. She had no one, not even her stepfather, and she hated it.

Kinako dragged out the last remaining trash bag out to the curb. It was getting late. Right now, kids were being put to bed. The night rodents and creatures were coming out to feed on leftovers. Only parents were awake to watch some late night television or something. And she was doing the last of her chores for her bakery. This was going to be the last time she'd do this.

Kinako turned around to head up her apartment and she saw her neighbors, a little boy and his grandma. The boy glanced at her briefly before running into the closing doors of his home. The warm lights leaked through the shades of their apartment, lightly painting onto her own windows. She wanted to feel that warmness too.

The chestnut haired girl sighed and she headed back to her apartment. She needed to start packing. Her eyes landed on the table. Something went missing. The letter from her stepdad was no longer on that table. Kinako took a quick glance around her apartment, trying to see if anything else was gone or if anyone was here. She sensed a chakra presence moving quickly away. Who was that?

"Hey!" Kinako sprinted after the guy. "Give that back! It's mine!"

He picked up speed and so did she. Kinako lept into the forest without a second thought and flashed through trees and branches.

"I said give that back!" Kinako whipped out her wires.

"Calm down, girly." The guy suddenly stopped and punched her down in midflight.

Kinako felt that one land in her stomach as she fell back first into the ground. A few things may have cracked and a searing pain erupted from her spine, but otherwise, she didn't feel paralyzed. She barely lifted her head, but enough to utter out, "Who the hell are you? What do you want?"

"Calm down. I don't want any trouble." The man said and glanced at the papers he just took. "So that guy finally called it quits. Then again, you were kind of pushing his buttons when you decided to become a ninja."

"What are you talking about?" She knew her stepfather hated that she wanted to become a ninja. The reason? She never knew...

"Your stepfather despised that you became a ninja. Do you know why?" The man smiled some more, but with the intent of malice. "He was trying to protect you from us."

"You? I don't even know you!"

"Of course you wouldn't...you were only a young child whose mind was completely erased that night."

"Erased?" Kinako gasped. Was there some part of her life she didn't remember? But she remembered most of her childhood. She remembered her mother meeting her stepfather. She remembered opening up a bakery and playing in it. She remembered the night her mother decided to leave. She remembered the morning that she woke up to her stepfather sitting alone at the table and staring blankly at her. It wasn't the best memory, but she remembered nonetheless...unless something else happened that night her mother left.

Kinako's eyes narrowed. "What was erased from my mind?"

"Your mother...she was a fugitive. She was a wanted woman in the Land of Water. Why? Because she was the central intelligence of the resistance and a mole for the main island. She was on both sides of the war until she betrayed the main island and the resistance for safe passage out of the Land of Water. Without realizing it, she fell pregnant with you and gave birth while on the run. She wounded up here, in Konoha, and met that guy. She married him and all that. She lived a normal life. For a moment, she forgot that she had enemies until that night when we finally found her."

"What are you doing? Killing time?" An annoyed woman appeared beside him. "Hurry up and let's get her out of here!"

"We got time. I'm just filling her in." The man replied with ease, "Say, weren't you the one to deliver the killing blow. You screwed us up."

"Hey! It was by accident!"

What… Kinako felt her heart drop as she listened in more and more. Her mother was dead. All this time, she thought her mom had left and was wandering the earth or something. Anything but dead. But no...her mom was really dead.

"What the hell happened that night!?" Kinako growled, now burning with rage and sadness. "Tell me!"

"Your mom ran away to protect you. Your mom ran so you and your stepfather wouldn't bear her sins and live peacefully. She told him to protect you from becoming a ninja, and thus, from opening this Pandora box. But I guess that didn't happen because look at you and your shiny headband." The man smirked as he flicked the metal band on her neck.

Papa was protecting her this whole time… The many times he discouraged her from becoming a ninja and making her stay at home as a baker, he was just trying to protect what was left of his family. But she already made her choice and there wasn't anything left he could do for her. Is that why he left her?

"Long story short, your mother died with some blood secrets hidden away. And we need someone with her blood to open them."

"And what makes you think I will come!"

"I don't expect you to," The man said with a shrug. "But weren't you ever curious about your mother? Weren't you ever curious about your family's history?"

She had a family? A clan?

"You came from a very powerful line. Didn't you ever want to grow stronger?"

_OoOoO_

"What? Kinako went missing?" Kiba exclaimed when he gathered in an emergency meeting. It was nearly midnight and a messenger woke him up from his slumber to attend this. But now, he knew why he was specifically summoned.

Tsunade nodded. "Kiba, I'm counting on you. You know her scent more than anyone else. You'll track her down the fastest. We can't let her leave the village!"

"I'm on it!" Kiba quickly said and leapt out without another word. He could remember it as clear as day; a situation that happened similar to this…

_The ninja of hounds glanced down at the mangled, lifeless corpse that laid before him. He was called to investigate the disappearance of a baker's wife, but he didn't think something this drastic would happen. The disappearance was reported at midnight and he was swiftly called a few minutes after midnight. So, either the report came in late or this woman was assassinated. She must be very important if this was an assassination._

_Kiba instructed Akamaru to sniff around the area. He wanted to know how many assassins were here and if they were still here. He would have to enlist a Tetsuya member to observe the area in more detail. But right now, he just wanted to know if Konoha was safe. Akamaru barked and shook his head. Nothing._

_Okay...Kiba sighed in relief. He then instructed Akamaru to look for another person. It was reported that the daughter ran after her mother._

_Akamaru barked, signifying that he found someone. Kiba ran over to find a little girl, still in her nightgown, staring blankly at the night sky. Her green eyes focused on the stars above, ignoring the barking dog and the man beside her. She wasn't covered in blood or bruises, just dirt and leaves._

_She's not responsive. Kiba immediately called for backup and medics. _

_The next day, Kiba received the examination report from Ino. She was the one who delved into the girl's head to find out what happened that night. And from what she saw, it wasn't pretty._

"_The little one, Kinako Keiganu, was left in a comatose state. She saw everything that happened." Ino reported, "I had to erase her memory to wake her back up. She's fine now and she'll be released today if possible. You can visit her if you like."_

"_That won't be necessary-" Kiba began to say, but he passed by Kinako's door and noticed something particular. "Ino...where is she?"_

_OoOoO_

"Kinako!" Kiba jumped between her and her captors. "It's you guys again!"

"Inuzuka-san…" Kinako took one glance at his eyes and it was all she needed to know the truth. "You knew…"

"Damn it!" The woman yelled and push her companion. "You took too long!"

"It's only the dog chunin. We can take him on." The man reached behind him for his pouch, but suddenly, his hand ceased to move. He was frozen in place.

"Well, Shadow Possession Technique is a success once again." Her sensei appeared from the shadows. He didn't look happy though. "Whatever you want with my student, you're not going to get it."

"Shikamaru! Great timing!" Kiba yelled.

"I noticed something has been wrong with you for days now. I guess keeping track of you finally paid off."

They couldn't stay here any longer. The woman quickly jumped away while the man broke himself out of Shikamaru's shadow technique. They were going to retreat.

"You're not getting away again!" Kiba growled and chased after them.

"It doesn't matter if you get us or not." The man cackled. "She'll come to us eventually. Just you see!"

Shikamaru groaned, "Not this again…" As if Sasuke wasn't bad enough...

Kiba struck at them both, but they both vanished. "Damn it!" But right now, it wasn't missing the enemy he should be worried about. He turned to Kinako, who was just blankly looking at both of them. "Kinako…"

"Inuzuka-san…" Her emerald eyes watered. "You knew...this whole time, you knew…"

"Kinako."

Tears dripped from her eyes as a blush appeared across her face. Kinako thought Kiba was the only person she could trust. But even he lied to her. Kiba was her rock, or so she thought. So she didn't want to hear it. She just turned around and ran as fast as she could.

"Kinako!"

Shikamaru began to take off, but Kiba held him back. "Leave her to me."

"She is my student."

"I know where she is going. I know her." Kiba retorted back. "Please, Shikamaru. This is my fault and responsibility."

He was determined to find her. Shikamaru sighed and eased up. "I want a full report on everything tomorrow. She is still my student."

"Okay."

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	24. Recovery

_This fic is almost ending! I have one more chapter left to end this story and there's an epilogue. So two more chapters and this fic is finally done! I'm sorry for the long hiatuses between chapters. I'm in college right now and I've been very busy. I have to study a lot and do a lot of work because that's the college life. I barely have any down time for myself. But I am determined to finish this fic because I'm so close!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 24: Recovery<strong>

"Shun! Shun! Dead Last!"

Shun's eyes twitched and he got up and slammed his window apart. "What do you want!?"

Ryuu gave a cocky smile. "Come out! Let's get Kina-chan and hang out together as a team one last time."

"We have to leave early morning tomorrow…"

"It's one last time to hang out with her before we leave. I know you want to see her!"

"Ugh! Fine…" Shun threw on some sort of clothes and jumped from his window. "Are you going to wake her up like you did to me?"

"Yep! I know where her bakery is. She lives right above it! We'll go in, grab her, and take her out to the woods!"

"That sounds so wrong…" Shun mumbled and approached the bakery when they arrived. He jumped up another floor and knocked on a window he thought to be Kinako's room. No one answered.

"Is she there?"

"No...Hold on." Shun activated his Space Tracker Jutsu. He saw a clear image of Kinako throwing out a few things into the garbage cans. "Ryuu, check the pile of trash over there!"

"Huh?" Ryuu went over to the pile to find bags filled with frames, paintings, fake baked goods, and a sign of the bakery. "She's closing her bakery…"

Shun lifted up the sign and frowned. "This isn't good…" Was Kinako alright?

_OoOoO_

Kinako found herself sitting under a bridge that crossed a river, away from the village, away from anyone who could find her. She completely canceled out her chakra, making it so even the best trackers couldn't find her by chakra. The little genin sat there, alone, shivering from the cold, and she watched the serene waters of the river twinkling from the moonlight. She hugged her knees closer and just sat there, thinking.

What was that? Was she a fugitive now? Was she a spy? Who was her mother? Where was her father? What is going with her life? Was she going to be alone? Will everyone hate her?

"Who am I?"

Kiba rode Akamaru farther out of Konoha. Kinako always had quite a habit of wanting solace when she was upset. And by solitude, she meant complete solitude, away from people, civilization, and animals. That's where he found her the first time…

_How this mission was made more difficult by one little girl eluded Kiba. He and Akamaru spent nearly three hours trying to sniff her out, but she was a smart one. She hid her chakra and spread her scent everywhere. She smelled like baked goods, but she somehow made a forest smell like a bakery._

_But there was a river...and it smelled like her the most. So Kiba followed the river and found a small girl in a hospital gown, huddled under a bridge. She was lifeless. She stared at her feet with no purpose._

"_So that's her…"_

_Bark! Bark!_

Bark! Kinako jerked her head and saw Akamaru happily running towards her. He licked her cheek and batted at her legs. He jumped over her and nuzzled up to her side. "Akamaru…" Kinako slightly pet his head.

"I found you…" Kiba sighed in relief. "Kinako-chan...I know when you're here, you've been hurt. You probably don't want to speak to me. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I wanted to protect you."

Kinako blushed and looked away. "Inuzuka-san...no, Kiba- senpai. You don't have to apologize. Just...just tell me what happened…"

"Kinako-chan...I don't think…"

"Just tell me!" Kinako lashed out, scaring even Akamaru who was on her lap. "I don't want to be protected anymore. My papa tried to protect me and he made me feel miserable! Now he's gone and I have no answers! I'm sick of being in the dark. I just want to know why I'm here. I want to know what happened! And I want to know why those people are after me! Kiba-senpai, please!"

"Kinako…"

"I just...I just want to know why I'm alone now." Tears fell from her emerald eyes.

Kiba sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder, drawing her close. "Hey. Hey. It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."

"Kiba…"

"You know, I met you here for the first time, right at this very spot. You ran away from the hospital, from Konoha, making it my mission to find you. Do you remember what happened after?"

"I do…" Kinako rubbed Akamaru.

"_Hey...you can pet him. He's friendly." Kiba said as he came closer to the girl. "What's your name? My name is Kiba Inuzuka and he's Akamaru, my ninja dog."_

"_I'm-I'm Kinako, Kinako Keiganu…" She meekly replied back, but with hesitation._

"_Hey, I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to make sure you're okay. I know you're scared, but I assure you, I will protect you and make sure no one will hurt you. You're safe now."_

"_What are you going to do?"_

_Well, I'm going to have to bring you back to your home in the village...but…" Kiba smirked and saw Akamaru wagging his tail. "I think Akamaru here wants to play."_

_Bark! Bark!_

"_Here," Kiba helped her up and gave her a stick. "Throw it and he'll chase after it."_

"And we played fetch till the sun came up that night. I fell asleep and you carried me back to the village." Kinako remembered waking up to Kiba carrying her back to the hospital. She could see it; his manly and wild face, the markings on each cheek, and his kind, brown eyes. That was probably the moment she first felt butterflies in her stomach.

"Kinako, what I said then still holds true now. I will protect you. And I don't want you to get hurt." With that being said, Kiba braced himself. "Kinako, your mother was assassinated by those people. And now, you're their target."

"I know that now...those people told me." Kinako replied. "I'm not sure what I should believe though. I don't remember anything."

"I don't know much of the details. I was just there to track her. You don't remember because Ino had to wipe your memory so you could wake up from your coma."

"But why?"

"I don't know." Kiba held her close. "I can just tell you this. Your mother came to this village and she was pregnant with you. When she came here, she was declared a fugitive and was given sanctuary in Konoha. However, the reason and her secrets died with her."

So many new things happening so fast...it made her head dizzy. Kinako asked, "So who am I?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is this: you're still as much of a Konoha citizen as the oldest clan in this village."

"But my family, my history...it's not in Konoha...it's where those guys came from…The Land of Water!" Kinako's emerald eyes suddenly lit up. "Kiba-senpai! Can you take me out there? You can nab those people who tried to kidnap me and I'll find out who I really am!"

"Whoa! Slow it down!" Kiba quickly said. "No."

"What? But why?"

"This impromptu mission you're proposing is way out of your league. You're young and not skilled enough. It's too dangerous for you."

"That's why I asked for you to come with me!"

"My answer is still no." Kiba shot back. "And don't even think about running out there by yourself. You're up against Akamaru and me, the best trackers of Konoha."

"You're not my parent!"

"I may not be, but that's not going to stop me from protecting you. After that incident, I was assigned to be your bodyguard. It has been my job to protect you and I gladly do it every day."

"But-"

"Kinako-chan, listen to yourself. Right now, you aren't thinking straight. You're only twelve years old and you're not a chunin. You're not ready."

She wasn't ready? Just because she didn't pass the Chunin Exams, she's not ready? She hated this. Even though she tried not to let it show, she hated that Shun and Ryuu passed and became chunin and she was the only genin left in their team. She hated they could go on A and B missions while she was stuck with D and C missions. Most of all, she hated that they could go to the Land of Water, where all her answers lie, while she had to stay behind the walls of Konoha.

Tears came to her again and she buried her face in her arms. "It's not fair. Why did all of this have to happen to me?" She wasn't a chunin. Her friends were going to leave for a long time. Her dad was gone. Her mom was dead. And she lost her bakery, the only thing left of her previous life.

"Kinako-chan...it's okay. Things are going to get better." Kiba hugged her again. "You still have me. I'll be cheering for you when you take the exam again in six months. Maybe you can join your teammates on their mission. Or you can go on your own mission. You have endless possibilities to look forward to now. And it starts by you making the right choice and staying here in Konoha where you know you belong."

Kinako didn't respond, but she did lift her head and cracked a small smile. Kiba always had a way of cheering her up. She loved him for that.

Kiba smiled back. "Hey, so I hear you have to move out into assisted living now. You know, my mission as your bodyguard is ongoing and technically I become your guardian when both of your parents are gone. I'm sure Akamaru wouldn't mind giving up his room."

Hearing this, Akamaru shot a look at Kiba and whined at him.

"See he doesn't mind!"

Kinako stared at him and asked, "Are you asking me to live with you?"

"Yep!"

The young girl blushed and turned away. "I mean, I would love to. But it seems a bit...weird…"

"Better weird than alone." Kiba pointed out. "Naruto and Sasuke, they had to grow up and live alone. Naruto turned out fine. Sasuke...took some work. But they both came out fine in the end. And I think you will too, but it will be easier and better when you have someone to help you along the way. And that's why I'm here!"

Kinako smiled back, now her eyes glittering from both elated and relieved tears. She reached out and gave Kiba the biggest hug she could ever give. In just mere moments, he made her feel immensely happy. "Thank you, Kiba-senpai. Thank you so much."

"See! Aren't you feeling better now?"

She nodded.

"Things are getting better already! Just you wait!" Kiba ruffled her hair and lifted Kinako back to her feet. "Let's get you back home. Your sensei must be worried sick by now."

"What about what happened tonight?" Kinako asked as Kiba lifted her onto Akamaru's back.

"That's something we worry about tomorrow. Right now, you should get some rest."

"Oh...I see…" Kinako murmured, "You know, you don't have to house me. I can take care of myself."

"I know, but I think it'd be fun. And you can make me and Akamaru sweets every day!"

Kinako pouted. "You guys are going to get fat."

"Who can resist?"

She blushed and hid her face away from him. Why does he always say these things? It's so embarrassing!

"We're here!"

Akamaru, Kiba, and Kinako finally arrived back to the gates of Konoha. There, Shikamaru and Temari were both waiting eagerly for her arrival. Shikamaru was relieved when they came back. Temari also eased up once she saw them. When Kinako leaped off of Akamaru, Temari was the quickest to wrap her into a hug.

"You stupid little girl," Temari whispered to her. "I was so worried."

"I'm sorry, Temari-sensei."

"It's okay. You're safe."

Shikamaru approached Kiba. "Good work. You can go home now. Turn in your report first thing in the morning."

"What about Kinako?"

"I will talk to her tonight and see if she's alright...but, it looks like you already got that covered." Shikamaru glanced at his student and she seemed to be fine. She wasn't crying. She wasn't sad. She just seemed like her usual self.

"Alright, I'll see you in the morning." Kiba disappeared along with Akamaru.

Shikamaru walked over to Temari and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Can you give me and Kinako some time? I want to talk to her."

Temari nodded and left. "I'll see you later."

Right now, it was just Kinako and Shikamaru left in the empty streets of Konoha. Shikamaru patted her on the back and started their long walk away from the gate and to the Konoha hospital. She needed to get herself checked for injuries and psychological help. And in the morning, they were going to ask her questions. Kinako was very flustered and quiet during the walk.

"You had a long night. You should get some rest." Shikamaru said in an attempt to lighten up the mood.

"Shikamaru-sensei...I'm sorry for running off and worrying you." Kinako softly apologized.

Shikamaru merely sighed and rubbed his head. "How troublesome."

She curiously glanced at him. "What's so troublesome?"

"You did nothing wrong. There's no need to apologize. And I don't want to give you a lecture about how irresponsible you were, how dangerous the situation was, and all that stuff. It's really troublesome."

"It's okay. Inuzuka-san already lectured me."

"My only concern is that you are safe and you're getting proper treatment. Besides, we have to see off Shun and Ryuu tomorrow. Knowing them, they'd refuse to leave if you're not there."

"I know...they have their big mission tomorrow…" Kinako solemnly replied back. "Shikamaru-sensei, I want to ask you something. Do you know why my teammates were promoted to chunin?"

"Heh. I knew you would ask me that eventually. Let's see...Ryuu Mizuno is a special case. His reasons are classified, but he has the skills necessary to succeed as chunin. Shun Tetsuya, on the other hand, proved himself worthy of his promotion. He has the skills of a leader and he is also most fit to be a chunin. In fact, if I was running the Exams, only Shun would have been promoted."

"I see...so what about me?" Kinako just wanted to know what she did wrong. She wanted to know so next time, she wouldn't make the same mistakes.

"You...I don't want to highlight what you did wrong or what you should have done. Every exam is different." Shikamaru explained. "Let's just say you just weren't there yet. You still have to practice your skills and your techniques. That's all. But I can tell you that you were closer than Ryuu."

"Oh...okay…" It was the same answer Kiba gave her.

"Hey." Shikamaru patted her head. "You'll get it next time. I'll train you every day so you can get it. In fact, Temari is going to be here a lot now so maybe she can teach you too. You're gonna have a huge advantage the next time you enter that stage and you'll definitely become chunin."

Kinako smiled. "Thank you, Shikamaru-sensei."

"Alright, go in there and get yourself checked out. There should be a nurse or doctor on call. Afterwards, go back home and get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

She waved good bye to him and watched as he went back to his home not far from the hospital. Temari was already waiting for him there and the first thing she did was give him a hug. Kinako watched as they entered the home and closed the door. Even though they were away in their own world, in their own lives, they were still there. And as far as Kinako knew, they were going to be there for her, through thick and thin. Kiba, someone she saw on occasion, chose to be there for her throughout it all. She realized this tonight...she will always have someone there. All of a sudden, she didn't feel lonely anymore.

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	25. Goodbye to You

_We are almost done with this story! Just one more chapter. This chapter is going to be a fun and cute and heartwarming chapter and it features only our three favorite students. We will get romance. We will get drama. We will get lots of feels. And we will bid two boys good bye._

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><p><strong>Chapter 25: Goodbye to You<strong>

Kinako exited the hospital with no sight of wounds or scratches. She didn't really engage her would-be-kidnappers so she didn't have any injuries. The doctor also checked her mental state and she was cleared. Kinako didn't feel any different herself. Sure, she was a bit tired from what happened tonight...maybe even overwhelmed with all the information dumped onto her. But she didn't feel compelled to go out again. She just wanted to go back to her room and go to bed. She wanted to sleep in her home before moving out to her new home with Kiba.

How nice of him to offer a place for her! She was very excited to live with him. She couldn't wait to cook for him and Akamaru. She couldn't wait to come back from training to find him welcoming her home. She couldn't wait to play with Akamaru every day. Kinako felt her face grow hot and she fumbled with her hands. She was going to live with Kiba...a man she owed so much to...and made her heart beat so much.

Kinako walked further out to the streets but she noticed two very familiar chakra gaining close on her. It seemed like these two people were following her. Yet she knew that she was in no danger. She knew these boys.

"Shun-kun? Ryuu-kun?" Kinako turned and smiled, "Why are you following me? It's late."

"I know. Why were you at the hospital? Did you get hurt?" Shun asked with concern.

"Oh. Don't worry about that. I'm fine!" Kinako nervously replied. "It's a long story I can tell you guys later. What are you two doing out? You guys have to leave early tomorrow."

"Well, Dead Last and I want to hang out as a team one last time. We tried to find you at your bakery, but you weren't there. So we went around looking for you until we found you here." Ryuu explained. "Shun and I usually hang out in the woods. Do you want to come?"

Kinako shook her head. "I can't go out to the woods tonight. Stuff happened. How about we go back to my place. I'm supposed to make some food for you guys tomorrow."

"I don't know..." Ryuu frowned.

"C'mon! It'd be fun!" Kinako grabbed his hand and held her hand for Shun. "Do you want to come too?"

A blush rose to Shun's face and he took her hand. "Sure."

So Kinako led her two boys back to her bakery. Along the way, she told them about what happened tonight. Both Shun and Ryuu got pretty worried and asked her a lot of questions. They even offered to convince their sensei to bring her along. Kinako merely shook her head and explained why she couldn't go and why she was safer in Konoha. Her boys finally eased up when they were assured she was safe.

They started asking about her situation afterwards like why her bakery was closing down and why she was moving. Almost immediately, both Shun and Ryuu offered their places to stay.

Kinako still shook her head. "I'm going to live with Inuzuka-san for a while before living on my own. Thank you for your kindness. Really!"

Ryuu shot a look at Shun, who merely glared back. Ryuu just shrugged and backed off from him. He could tell that Shun was a little annoyed that Kinako chose to live with a guy. He could tell that Shun was getting a little jealous.

"Huh? That guy?" Ryuu called her out. "He's an old guy. Are you sure you should be shacking up with him?"

"Inuzuka-san is not old!" Kinako shot back. "I've known him since I was little!"

"Maybe that's his goal since way back when?"

"Ryuu-kun!"

"Gate Jumper, just stop teasing her." Shun said with a sigh. "Kinako, if you're comfortable with him then I see no problem with it. But if you were going through a rough time, you should have contacted us first. We're your teammates for a reason."

"But you guys are chunin now. Shikamaru-sensei said-"

"So? It doesn't matter if we're different ranks. We're not Team Shikamaru if you're not with us." Shun defiantly answered. "Alright Kinako, when we come back, you better be chunin by then."

"Heh. I plan on it!" Kinako smirked back.

She finally brought them to the front entrance of her home. She took them inside the empty bakery and up a set of stairs that led to her apartment. Most of her stuff was packed away, but she still had a lot of packing left to do. The kitchen was still furnished with pots and pans and utensils necessary for cooking.

Ryuu walked around her apartment a little. "You live in a nice place. I've actually never visited here."

"Yeah...it's too big for one person. That's why I'm moving out." Kinako explained as she grabbed her tools. "So what do you boys want to eat tomorrow? I'm your personal baker tonight! Any sweets or pastries you want, I got you covered!"

Ryuu joined Shun at the kitchen island. "Anything we want huh? Are you sure?" Ryuu cheekily smiled.

"Of course! You boys are going to help me."

"What?" Both boys exclaimed.

Shun retorted, "I don't know how to bake."

"I'll teach you." Kinako began preparing her work space. "Now what do you want? Cake? Brownies? Cookies? Macaroons? Bread?"

"I think brownies and cookies sound good." Ryuu said, knowing those were probably the easiest to bake.

"Okay and I'll bake some cakes for your sensei." Kinako said as she started taking out the flour, sugar, chocolate, and other baking necessities. She handed eggs to Shun and Ryuu. "Okay. I want you to crack four eggs for the cookies, four eggs for the brownies, and two eggs for the cakes. Make sure the cake eggs are separated."

They just stared. "Huh?"

"You guys don't know how to crack eggs? How do you even make breakfast?" Kinako asked in disbelief.

"We don't."

"Well it's not that hard." Kinako cracked a single egg to demonstrate. "See. Just crack and separate the shells. Try not to get the shells in the bowl."

"Ummm…"

"You guys are hopeless!"

Eventually, Kinako was able to get them to learn how to crack eggs. Then, she got them to sift flour, measure baking soda, grate chocolate, combine ingredients, and mix them together. Both boys essentially sucked at their jobs but they tried their best. She had to give them that. And it was also fun to throw flour at them every once a while. Kinako picked up a small pinch a chucked it right at Shun.

"Hey!" Shun yelled out, surprised and annoyed. He was trying to figure out how to use her mixer and she wants to play.

"Oh! So it's going be like that!" Ryuu prepared his hand signals.

"You cause a tornado of flour in my house, I will make you clean all night!" Kinako yelled, making him stop.

"Damn…" Ryuu moved to the side. "You're on your own dude."

Kinako giggled and tried to hit Shun again with a flour bomb. He retaliated by throwing flour back at her and they were chasing each other around the kitchen. Soon, the flour landed on Ryuu and he got in on the flour bombing action. Eventually, the three kids were both tired out and they sat down exhausted on the kitchen floor.

"Wow! That's probably the most fun I've had in a while." Kinako exclaimed. "It's going to be a long time before we get to play like that again."

"Huh? Why's that?" Ryuu asked.

"Well who knows how long you guys are going to be out of the village. We may not be kids anymore when we come back as a team."

"Doesn't matter. We can still have fun." Shun replied back. He knew it was going to be a long while before this team were going to be together again. But he believed that they were still going to be close. True friends are the ones whose friendship has not changed over time. He believed that when they all come together, it would be like they never left.

"Besides, it's going to be fun when we come back all grown up. I'm going to look so hot!" Ryuu said with a smirk.

"Hah! I doubt it." Shun shot back.

"Oh yeah, want to bet Dead Last?"

"Bring it on Gate Jumper!"

Kinako watched the boys argue out like they usually would. She just sat there waiting for them to finish. One thing for sure, these boys will never change their arguing. But she loved them both regardless. At first, she thought the both of them to be jerks. Ryuu was the more jerkish of the two. Shun was just quiet about everything. Now, she found them to be lovable dorks who always try their best to make her happy. They protect her and treat her as an important member of the team. She loved their dynamic and she loved teasing both of them. At first, she was disappointed that she was put in a team with them. Now she was thankful.

But if they keep arguing, they'll run out of time to bake.

Kinako clapped her hands together. "Hey! Stop arguing. We still have a lot of baking to do if you guys want sweets tomorrow."

"Kina-chan. I'm tired!" Ryuu complained.

"Doesn't matter."

Kinako made both of the boys stand up and continue the work. They quickly got cookie dough onto baking sheets, cakes into the tins, and brownies into the trays. Now it was just time to wait for everything to finish. However, Kinako was tired out and she fell asleep with her head buried in her arms at the kitchen island. Ryuu was also yawning. Shun seemed perfectly fine and awake.

Ryuu walked over to Shun. "Hey, I'm going back home to get some rest."

"Okay. I'll stay here until everything is done."

"Alright…" Ryuu glanced over at Kinako's peaceful sleeping body. "Hey, like we've been saying, it's going to be a long time before we see each other...don't you think it's about time to confess to her?"

"Huh!?" Shun jumped.

"Shhhh," Ryuu hushed. "Kina-chan is asleep."

"I don't like her like that!"

"Sure…" Ryuu rolled his eyes. "I'm going to lay this out for you real simple. Kenji has the hots for her too. He's gonna be here in Konoha. So either you make a move soon or regret it when you come back."

Shun didn't say anything back. He only waved good bye to Ryuu who also waved a silent good bye. Ryuu quietly left the apartment, leaving the two teammates alone there.

Shun gazed onto Kinako's sleeping figure illuminated by the moonlight. She looked so peaceful. Shun remembered his time in the Academy with her. She wasn't a popular girl, mostly because she was quiet and didn't speak to anyone. But Shun found her to be strange and when she was put in a team with him, he tried his best to be nice and courteous to her. She turned out to be a very fun person. What a surprise!

But everyone kept teasing him about her. He didn't like her! Absolutely not! She was his teammate! She was a comrade above anything else. But every time some other guy seemed to grab her attention, he always felt a little burn in his stomach, like a small fire ready to burst into flames. What was this? As Shun kept his eye on Kinako, the more he just wanted to…

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Kinako jolted up from the noise. "Oh. It's done!" She groggily rubbed her eyes and saw only Shun there. "Huh? Ryuu-kun left?"

"Eh? Um...yeah. Yeah, he left." Shun stammered out. "I stayed back to help finish these."

"Oh thanks!" Kinako put on some baking mittens and took all the food out. "So let's wrap the cookies and brownies together. I'll decorate the cakes and put the cakes in boxes. One is for Naruto-sensei and the other is for Sasuke-sensei."

"Okay." He carefully followed her instructions and made the care packages.

Every once in a while, Shun looked up to see what Kinako was doing. She was very concentrated on decorating each small cake. She had quite an artistic hand since the cakes looked like they belong in the front of a bakery. Soon, Shun finished and joined her to help decorating.

"Thanks, you've been so helpful." Kinako said as she packed away the cakes.

"Oh it's no problem." Shun looked up at her. "Hey, are you going to be okay without us?"

"Yeah I think so. I have other friends here to keep me company."

"Like Triple B?"

"Yeah. I think they're friends. Sanae is always so sweet to me." Kinako replied with a small smile.

"Hey. I got a secret for you."

"A secret?"

"Did you know that Kenji likes you?"

Kinako was flustered for a second but quickly recomposed herself. "Uh yeah, I knew that already."

"We're not going to be around to protect you from him. What are you going to do?"

Kinako frowned and lightly slapped his arm. "I don't need protection. And I think I'll just be nice to him, like I always do. And if he asks me out, I'll let him down gently."

"You don't want to accept his feelings?"

"No. I don't want to date really." Kinako shook her head. "I don't know...I haven't really thought about dating or romance or anything like that. I probably won't for a while. That's a problem for future Kinako to worry about. Right now, I just want to enjoy my friends and have fun."

"Um yeah...of course."

"Thanks for telling me though."

"No problem."

And so, they packed all the goods up and cleaned up the kitchen. Kinako bid Shun good night.

_OoOoO_

The chestnut haired girl ran out as fast as she could to the front gates of Konoha. She couldn't be late! She must not be late! She must see her teammates before they leave! Kinako finally appeared with all her presents ready for them. Shikamaru was there. Ryuu and Naruto and Sasuke and Shun were almost ready to leave.

"Wait up!" Kinako yelled as she finally made it. "I'm sorry I'm so late. I was trying not to drop all of this. Here!"

"Thanks. What is it?" Naruto asked as he took a small box.

"We stayed up last night to bake some sweets for the journey." Ryuu answered for her.

"Thanks." Sasuke simply took his gift. "We have to leave soon. Time to say your goodbyes."

"Always the no nonsense guy." Shikamaru said and knelt down before Shun and Ryuu. "Okay boys, be good and do your best out there."

"Yes sensei!"

Shikamaru patted both of their heads. "Alright then, good luck. I'm glad to say that I was your sensei."

Kinako suddenly ran up and hugged both of them. "I'll see you guys in a while?"

"Mhmm! You bet Kina-chan!" Ryuu smirked.

"Yeah, see you soon." Shun said and hugged her back.

Kinako waved goodbye to her boys as they quickly leaped away to make their journey towards the Land of Water. She was going to miss them. But she definitely will catch up to them when they come back. She turned towards her sensei, "Shikamaru-sensei, I'm ready to start training again!"

Shikamaru found himself smiling at his student's eagerness. "Alright, we'll start with a shogi match."

"Yes sensei!"

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><p><em>Timeskip time! Cool thing I'm going to do is that this time skip is going to feel very familiar and there are plenty new characters! Read and review!<em>


	26. Our Final Days

_Done! After three years and long hiatuses due to school, this fic is finally done! I'd like to thank those who stuck around and read it throughout these years. I tried my best to end this fic on a positive, happy note just like the Naruto manga ended. I hope you enjoy this. Read on!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 26: Our Final Days<strong>

Three years later, Konoha remained proud and standing with its great forests and bright sunshine. Behind the entire village, a new face graced the Hokage monument. This face was Kakashi Hatake, Sixth Hokage of Konoha. As one ventures past the gate and into the village, little changes that happened over the years emerge. There were computers in most homes of Konoha. Everyone had cell phones. There was also construction beginning at the top of the Hokage monument. Although there were so many changes, some things remained the same like the buildings and shops and food stalls that graced Konoha since the beginning.

Near the entrance of Konoha, Triple B was beginning to leave for their mission. They were all chunins. Sanae grew to be a true beauty and she wore a longer version of her kimono and carried two swords on her back. Her long dark hair was tied up in a ponytail and her headband remained on her forehead. Kenji also matured well in three years as he switched out his brown jacket with a Konoha flak jacket and wore a standard uniform. Finally, Megane switched out his shirt and shorts for a blue and white trenchcoat. He still wore glasses though, but with technological enhancements on it.

"Hey, let's finish this mission fast. I feel bad for leaving when our friends are just coming back." Sanae requested. "I wanted to show them Choji-sensei's cute kid first before they see their sensei."

"Yeah, out of all those babies, Chouchou is the cutest." Kenji smirked, "It's been a while. I can't wait to spar with those two."

Megane merely sighed. "They will think you haven't changed."

"Alright team, let's move out!" Sanae exclaimed and they all charged out of Konoha.

Further into the village, two women were enjoying their afternoon lunch along with their little babies. Sakura tried her best to spoon feed her little daughter, Sarada, while Ino was bouncing her son, Inojin, on her lap. Sarada cutely took a big bite of her food and started chewing as best as she could.

"Ah, I can't believe our babies are already twenty four months old." Sakura cutely squealed as she wiped away the food from Sarada's mouth.

"Better relish it now. You have the oldest of the lot." Ino replied back. "I'm just glad to get out of the house once in a while. I'm still in the middle of the two year mark." Inojin suddenly reached out and spilled her tea. "Inojin!"

Sakura giggled.

"It's not funny Billboard Brow!"

"Hey. You don't have it as bad as Hinata-chan. Poor girl gave birth to Naruto's spawn."

"I can't believe he came back from his mission and left Hinata pregnant." Ino said in a huff. "I guess it's a good thing the mission is ending today. Now that's perfect timing. Naruto gets to handle Boruto and Hinata-chan can finally take a break. Oh Sakura, I didn't hear about Sasuke. Is he coming back?"

"Oh! Um...no, he had another mission come up…" Sakura replied and her eyes sadly darted down to her lap.

"Hey Sakura…" Ino lifted her best friend's head up. "He'll come back. You guys have the longest marriage out of all of us. He'll definitely come back and raise little Sarada with you."

"I hope so." Sakura picked up her little baby and hugged her close. "I want Sasuke-kun to see how beautiful his daughter is."

As the two mothers continue their lunch date, another mother was lying down next to her husband with her baby on her stomach. She seemed to remain the same after three years except her body was a little fuller and more voluptuous. Her husband, on the other hand, changed in that he was growing a goatee. She actually liked it. It made him look more manly. And their cute little child, little Shikadai, looked just like his father except he had his mother's eyes. Eyes that were closed because the little one already fell asleep.

"He is definitely your son, Shikamaru." Temari grumbled while stroking her son's back. "Sometimes I don't even think I'm a mother. I haven't gone through hell like the others."

"Don't lie. You love it." Shikamaru pulled his wife into a slight cuddle and kissed her forehead. "Enjoy the peace now. We may not have it when Shikadai starts acting up."

"Why would he?"

"I married you. I would know."

"Shikamaru…"

"Enjoy the peace." Shikamaru sighed and gazed up at the clouds. "I can't believe it. Three years and those two boys are coming back. I wonder if they can adjust to a few new faces."

"I'm sure they can. Not that much has changed. By the way, what are you going to do with them when they come back?"

"I got a few pointers from Kakashi. I want to evaluate them first before they can start working as a three man squad again."

Shikamaru wanted to make sure they wouldn't fall apart as a team. That's how his genin team started. He trained Kinako for three years and she knew the jig was up today. That's why she was off training instead of getting ready to see her best friends. Shikamaru was proud of her now. She became a chunin after joining with two other genin and winning the entire tournament of the third round. She was getting stronger each day.

Except he didn't realize Kinako was getting back from her training early and she interrupted their little quiet time.

"Oops! I'm so sorry sensei!" Kinako gasped and she tried to run. It was futile. Shikadai woke up and started bawling.

"Well...there goes my peace." Shikamaru sighed and addressed his fifteen year old pupil. "Kinako, did Kiba decide to finish training early?"

"Yeah. He has a date with Tamaki." Kinako gradually grew used to the cat-loving woman. At first, her little teenage heart was crushed when Kiba fell in love with Tamaki. He asked her for girl advice and requests to bake sweets for Tamaki. Kinako would get mad at him for using her as his personal bakery and she smartly traded these requests for training hours. After a while, she grew used to the fact that Kiba has fallen in love and he only loved Kinako as family. Now, she found them to be cute together. Besides, she will always be Kiba's cute adopted sister who he dotes on.

Kinako noticed Shikadai being fussy. "Oh my, I didn't mean to make Shikadai cry. Here, I have some cookies. Does he like cookies?"

Shikadai took a bite, smiled, and started cooing. Temari bounced her son a little and patted his back to get the air out. She was so glad Kinako was around often to help her with Shikadai. Shikamaru was now learning from Shizune about the trades of being an advisor for when Naruto becomes the next Hokage. Since her husband wasn't around a lot, it was nice to have extra help from his student.

Over three years, Kinako has grown to be a cute, teenage girl. She was a bit taller. Her chestnut hair was longer, reaching down to her chest, and her pigtails were now slightly braided before being tied off. Another noticeable change were her ears as she wore ringed earrings. She wore a short white kimono with mid length sleeves. The kimono had green and black designs going down the side. She still wore a black belt and a large shinobi bag hung off it on her backside. She wore black tights, knee high boots, and fingerless gloves. Even though she has grown up and looked so different, she was still as cheerful as she was three years ago. Her excitement showed as she reminisced about her teammates.

"I can't wait to see Shun-kun and Ryuu-kun! It's been so long." Kinako excitedly said as she was bouncing Shikadai. "I can't wait to show them my new tricks. They're going to be so surprised!"

"I'm sure they are just as excited to see you." Temari reassured her. "So Kinako-chan, how do you think your teammates are going to react to you? You've changed so much."

"Let's see...knowing Ryuu-kun, he's going to think I've gotten cuter. And if I got cuter, than Sanae must have gotten really bombshell hot. That would be his train of thought. And Shun-kun...I don't know. I think he'll be more interested in my ninja abilities."

Shikamaru immediately answered her concerns. "We'll see. They're coming back soon. I can sense them."

_OoOoO_

"Naruto-sensei, aren't you excited to see your new son?" Ryuu asked.

Ryuu also grew a bit taller over three years. His long hair was no longer in a ponytail, but untied and freely out for the world to see. He wore a longer and darker blue raincoat yet it was not buttoned up all the way. He also wore longer and looser pants. Another noticeable feature was that attached to his shinobi bag was a scroll. But what matured the most was his face as it was longer and more pronounced. He no longer had the genin baby face. And his Konoha headband was placed proudly on his forehead.

"Yeah." Naruto nervously replied. "I hope Hinata won't be too mad that I skipped out on raising our kid."

"Can't be as bad as Sasuke. He hasn't even visited Sakura."

"Yeah...the bastard. By the way, where did Shun say he'll rendezvous with us?"

"He said he was waiting for us in the forests 30 km away from Konoha." Ryuu replied and suddenly bumped into his friend hanging upside down.

Shun glared at him as he got off from the branch he hung on. "I sent you that message over two hours ago. It took you that long to get here?"

"Why is that you guys use messenger hawks to deliver messages? We have cell phones for a reason!" Ryuu shot back. "Your name still holds true after all these years, Dead Last!"

"Wow. I haven't seen you in three years and you still act like an idiot." Shun merely scoffed. "And you're shorter than me still."

"No! You're the short one here!"

Shun also changed just as much as Ryuu. In fact, he was just as tall as Ryuu, probably even the same height. He still had his messy dark hair. Unfortunately, he still had a cute baby face. He wore a dark grey hoodie and a chunin vest over it. He also had on long black pants with belts that wrapped along his right leg. Hanging off both of his sides were scroll holders and they contained two scrolls.

"Now. Now. Play nice. You're both fifteen years old now." Naruto tried to mediate both of them. They could possibly be worse than him and Sasuke. "Okay. Let's get back to Konoha."

Surprisingly, Ryuu and Shun shrugged it off and started chatting as they took their walk back. Naruto found this relationship to be strange. They could be fighting at one second and be best friends in another.

"So...hows it been? Three years huh?" Ryuu measured himself against Shun. "You're just as tall as me!"

"You look a little girly…"

"No! Look at me!" Ryuu ripped apart his raincoat, showing his toned abs. "I'm ripped."

"Gate Jumper, put your clothes back on." Shun sighed. "That was the longest mission I ever had. I don't think I can handle a long term one like that again."

"You're just complaining because you had to go undercover." Ryuu replied with a smirk. "I enjoyed quite an extravagant life on the main island."

"I had to do more work!"

"I had to keep the Mizukage forces in check!"

"Guys…" Naruto's annoyed voice rang over them.

"Sorry sensei!"

"So what did you have to do while undercover? I don't know how to you managed to get the last gang to turn over to the main island. They were so troublesome to deal with from the other side." Ryuu asked. "I remembered Ayame getting all fussy over my opponent from the Chunin Exams."

"It took a while. But it helped that Akai was basically head of the island after his father died." Ryuu said. "And you know the rest."

While Akai was getting treated, the island guerilla forces managed to break in and rescue him. However, during the rescue operation, Akai's father died. After bringing back Kuromo to the Mist, Shun immediately sought out his teammates, specifically Akai, the guy who fought Ryuu. Akai turned out to be more important in his mission than he ever thought. So Shun fought his way to the top of Akai's government ranks and relayed all his information to Sasuke. Then, with this knowledge passing around, they would try to come up with suitable negotiations to annex the rogue island into the main island. They had a nice system going on until Ayame decided to infiltrate the island herself.

"Oh yeah...that Ayame girl was a huge troublesome hassle." Ryuu groaned. "I had to deal with her sister and her teammates. They wanted to go in and I had to hold them back. Then, I had to be in a team with them to rescue her." However, Sasuke and Naruto gave the order for Ryuu to stand back and command his team from afar because they didn't want the rogue islands to discover Konoha was assisting the Mist and that a shinobi with a rare kekkei genkai was there.

Because Ayame decided to infiltrate a powerful island without backup, she was easily captured. Shun was forced to reveal his identity to her and basically prevent her from getting executed. And then, he had to make sure she revealed nothing to Akai when the boy personally visited to interrogate her. Shun didn't witness the interrogations, but it involved a lot of mud as he heard. But he also heard that while Ayame was usually cussing out Akai, they sometimes got along and talked about a lot of things in private. In fact, when their conversations got too long, some people started thinking Akai was getting soft on his prisoner. Occasionally, Shun would catch Ayame blushing a little after she debriefed him on their conversations, which is mostly just her insulting him even more. Then again, she did have a habit of crushing on people too fast so he dismissed it.

Then, for a few days, Shun lost access to Ayame. This prompted Yuuichi and Hana to launch their rescue mission. That was when the situation really started getting interesting…

_Yuuichi and Hana drop down from their hiding spots and captured both Akai and Shun as they were walking around in the private house. Yuuichi got hold of Shun, but he was already debriefed that Shun was undercover. However, he kept hold of Shun to maintain his cover. Hana, on the other hand, wanted the big fish, Akai, for herself. It was her sister after all. She twisted his arm behind his back and held a kunai to his neck._

"_You make any sudden moves and I will slit your throat." Hana growled into his ear. "Now talk: where is my little sister?"_

_Akai said nothing. He refused to look at her._

_Ayame suffered too much already. She's been a hostage for six months already and her torture was because of this asshole. Hana narrowed her eyes and brought the kunai closer. "If you don't talk, I will kill you and find her myself." _

"_Hana! Stop it!" _

_A vine suddenly whipped at Hana's hand, causing her to drop her kunai. Ayame suddenly appeared from a hallway. She was perfectly fine. In fact, she didn't even look like a prisoner of six months. She was dressed in a simple, pink kimono and she looked very clean unlike a typical prisoner. Ayame ran up to Akai, protecting him from her sister._

"_Are you hurt, Akai?" Ayame asked before turning to her sister. "Hana! Don't hurt him, okay? Please!"_

"_Wh-What? Aya! He's the enemy." Hana backed away. "What's wrong with you? Do you realize he held you captive for six months? Six months!?"_

"_I know. But I can explain!"_

"_What's there to explain? He kept you captive and he's been extorting information out of you."_

"_No he hasn't. He never tried to extort anything from me." Ayame took a deep breath. "I've been telling him everything. He wants the same thing as us...reunification of the islands."_

"_What?"_

"_I swear I did not see that coming." Shun whispered to Yuuichi._

_Akai finally got up and he held tightly onto Ayame's hand. "I never tortured her for information. I would never do that...because I…"_

"_Oh crap. Don't tell me."_

"_Hana," Ayame blushed. "I love him okay! I really do!"_

"_That I did see coming."_

Long story short, Akai's father was leading the resistance against the main island. With him out of the equation and gaining the trust of his son, dissolving the resistance became easy pickings for the team. The last island was finally annexed into the Mist, allowing for Ryuu and Shun to finish their mission and go home. Shun remembered the time that the official annexation documents were signed. Once it was determined that tensions were finally over, the first thing that happened was Ayame throwing herself at Akai for a tight hug. Good thing they found their happy ending.

"I wonder how those two lovers are holding up." Shun mused on.

"Eh. They should be fine. I'm just worried if Mud Boy can withstand Hana. She still doesn't trust him." Ryuu merely shook off. "It just sucks you had more fun than me."

"Well, we couldn't risk you getting captured. They would have recruited you into their ranks by force." Shun pointed out. "When I was there, everyone wanted your blood and a restart of the Yuki clan."

"I know. I know. Last of my clan privileges. Besides, even if I was captured, I still won't join them. Hell, I don't think I'll stay here for their plans. I'm a Konoha ninja! Konoha is my home!"

"Yeah. Yeah. I know." Shun rolled his eyes.

"What about your love life? Did you ever confess to her?"

"...no…"

"Wimp."

"Shut up!" Shun retorted, "By the way, we're back."

"Wow! This place has really changed." Ryuu exclaimed, taking in all the advancements of the village.

"Alright guys, I'm going to turn in our reports to the Sixth. You guys can relax and enjoy yourselves." Naruto said and he sprinted off towards the Hokage building.

"Whew! Finally!" Ryuu stretched out. "Let's get something to eat. I'm starving!"

"We come back here and the first thing you want is food…" Shun said, but his stomach suddenly growled.

Ryuu smirked and grabbed his friend. "Let's go and see what's in the market."

And so the two friends walked into the main streets of Konoha. Although so many new things were being built, the shops and restaurants remained relatively unchanged. But when Ryuu and Shun stumbled past their former team's favorite barbecue place, they were pleasantly surprised by who they saw coming out.

"Hey! It's…"

Shun recognized that pineapple hair anywhere. But he definitely recognized the teenage girl with him. She turned around and gazed onto them with her familiar emerald eyes that soon closed from her smiling too hard. Ryuu even had to take a double take because he couldn't believe it too. Those eyes he once feared, once distrusted, even hated, were one of the most relieving sights to see here.

Kinako finally saw them. Her two boys!

"Ryuu! Shun!" Kinako cried and hugged them both to death. "It's been so long! I missed you guys so much!"

"Kina-chan! Wow!" Ryuu exclaimed. "You've gotten...taller...and cuter."

"You look beautiful-I mean you look like you!" Shun mindlessly said, but then coughed out of embarrassment. "It's a good you!"

"Aww! Thank you!" Kinako gleamed and patted both of their heads. "You guys got taller too! I used to be bigger than you guys. Now I feel so short."

"Heh. Do you think we look manlier?" Ryuu smirked at her.

"Nah. You may look different, but I know you." Kinako said with a giggle, earning a scowl from Ryuu. "By the way, did you know Shikamaru-sensei has a kid now!?"

"Yeah we heard. Can't wait to see him." Shun said and shot a rare smile to Shikamaru. "Congratulations on your son."

"Thanks." Shikamaru said and then coughed. "Well, let's get some housekeeping out of the way now that you are here. Now that all of you are chunin, you guys can form your own official three man squad. Shun, I will assign you to be the squad leader. And also, I have a little test for you guys."

"What!? We just got here!" Ryuu complained.

"You two are hungry, aren't you?" Kinako interjected, but it earned a silent nod from Shun.

"You still got it." Shun said, amused that she could still read them after three years.

They still complain a lot. That didn't change. Shikamaru sighed, "Fine. Do you want to see Shikadai?"

"Yes sensei!" They all chorused out and began to take off in the direction of the Nara household. They also couldn't wait to see their other sensei, Temari.

"Ha! I'm going to beat you there, Dead Last!" Ryuu took off.

"I won't be defeated by the likes of you!" Shun also sprinted after him.

However, both boys were surpassed by Kinako's fast flickering form. She gave a teasing smirk and turned around to sprint away, "Better catch up boys!"

Shikamaru watched his former genin team good heartedly mess around with each other. He groaned at first because they were acting like twelve year olds again, but smiled because it reminded him of the good old times. As dysfunctional and troublesome they were, he was glad to be in a team with them. The sensei, future Hokage advisor, and father followed after his students, relishing this small moment he had with them. His journey was over with these kids and he expected them to grow without his help. Shun was on his way to being a great leader. He could command his own battalion of ninjas one day. He could even become Hokage if he wanted to. Ryuu was going to be a strong ninja. He could have a legacy, a name for his infamy like the Yellow Flash or the Copycat Ninja. And of course, Kinako, she was the one who grew the most. The possibilities for her were endless. She could be anything she wanted as long as she put her mind to it. In the future, Shikamaru just wanted her to be happy with what she did in her life. Although secretly, he wished for Kinako to work for Interrogations...she has a natural gift only seen every hundred of years.

Shikamaru look forward to seeing his students after their first mission, after their second, after one year, two years, a decade, when they grow into adults, when they find love, when they start families of their own, and when their kids can continue their Will of Fire.

Their adventures have only just begun…

**End**

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><p><em>Whoo! And that's a wrap! <em>

_I tried my best to incorporate every important character into this final chapter and I tried to wrap up any loose ends. I never did touch on Shikamaru and Temari's past, but then again, I didn't on purpose because that was a thing of the past and they are trying to move forward. I also tried to put in all the kids as best as I can. Unfortunately, Himawari didn't make it because she's younger than the generation of genin kids. she's probably gonna be conceived after this chapter. Also, I left the romance of our main genin unresolved because I always wanted friendship to be the main theme between them. Maybe Shun will finally confess to Kinako in the future and maybe Kinako will start dating...who knows? But I was always shipping Ayame and Akai!_

_Anyways, that's the end of this story. Signing off!_


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